A Place to Call Home
by Samantha20
Summary: Tells the beginning of a relationship on RAW, circa Lita's return. PG is just to be safe.
1. Meetings

A/N: My first wrestling fic, please R & R, even if you think it's no good. I know that the pairing is kind of un-thought of, but it just wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it, so thanks to SouthernersCanWrestle, one of my fav authors and please people, let me know what you think.  
  
Part 1.  
  
"Hey Lita." The red haired diva turned at the sound of her name. "Welcome back."  
  
"Thank you." She answered, finding that she had to look up to see the face of the man speaking to her.  
  
"I don't think we were ever introduced. Bill Goldberg." He offered his hand to shake.  
  
"I know who you are." She told him, absently brushing several stray strands of hair back from her face.  
  
"Thanks again, for the 'welcome back'."  
  
"Some people giving you a hard time?" He asked, concerned.  
  
"Just the same old, same old. I guess I'd forgotten just how competitive it is behind the scenes."  
  
"Yeah, I know the feeling." Goldberg agreed.  
  
"See that's where we're different. You get pissed off with someone and you Spear them, or Jackhammer them. When I get pissed off with someone I have to cop it sweet like a little girly-girl."  
  
"You don't cop it sweet and you know it." He teased, unsure why he was so busy flirting with this woman he didn't even know.  
  
"You're probably right." She smiled at him.  
  
"I'm just heading out for a drink." Goldberg told her. "Do you want to join me?"  
  
"Yeah, that sounds good." She agreed, falling into step beside him.  
  
*******  
  
"What are you having?" He asked, as they both sat down at the bar.  
  
"Glass of red." She answered, not wanting anything too strong.  
  
"What she said, and I'll have a beer." He told the barkeeper.  
  
"Coming up."  
  
"Does this make us both sad individuals, sitting at a bar, with our drinks?" He asked.  
  
Lita smiled. "No, we're not sad, if we were both... I don't know, desperate and dateless, then that would be sad."  
  
"How do you know we both aren't?"  
  
"I know I'm not and."  
  
"Call me Bill." He told her, "It gets less attention."  
  
"Well, I don't think you are either. I mean you managed to convince me to come out for a drink, didn't you?"  
  
He smiled at her. "Has anyone ever told you that you have a great sense of humor?"  
  
"No, they just tend to laugh a lot when I talk. Sometimes I don't know whether or not I should be insulted." Seeing the look on his face, she quickly added. "That was a joke. You know people never laugh when I joke around." She picked up her glass of wine and took a sip.  
  
"I'm glad I asked you. I hate drinking alone."  
  
Lita laughed. "I can't imagine that happens very often."  
  
"You'd be surprised. I wouldn't think you'd be alone much either, you seem to have a lot of friends in this business." Bill told her.  
  
"Most people are great, Trish, Steve Austin, Tommy, Rob. I've worked with so many of them for such a long time that coming back to the WWE is like coming home, but then, it's just never a happy home, people are always out to get you."  
  
"With girls like Molly and Gail running around trying to smash you up." He smiled, trying come from her perspective.  
  
"I told my sports psychologist that and she thought I was paraniod. Seriously though, it's not that I even care about what they do to me, it's just that they'll go and attack other people, you know 'to get their point across.'" Lita shook her head, clearly angry.  
  
"Like Kane you mean?"  
  
"I've known Kane for a long time, and none of this is like him. People keep blaming Steve for it all, but all of this has only come out of his since Bishoff made that match, the one where if he lost he had to take his mask off. It was how he kept his annonymity, it's how he hid parts of him from the world. It was his way of hiding. Losing that security would be have been so hard from him. Kane was always one for privacy and keeping a low profile.Taking that away from him would be like telling Eric he could never get laid again, or Trish that she was never allowed to buy shoes."  
  
"What would it be like telling you?" Bill asked, curious for a little insight into the gorgeous, smart, funny woman sitting beside him.  
  
"For me? It's be like telling me that I could never see Lulu or Jeff or the rest of my family again." She answered honestly.  
  
"Jeff Hardy?" He asked.  
  
"He like my little brother. All the time I was in rehab he was there for me. For so long he and Lulu were the only constants in my life."  
  
"Who's Lulu?" He watched as she blushed and looked at the floor for a moment.  
  
"Lulu is my dog. It's pretty sad." She smiled at the thought of the pair of them.  
  
"How is that sad? I had a dog for ages while I was growing up. His name was Rex, he was a German Shepherd. What sort of a dog is your Lulu?"  
  
"She's an American Cocker Spaniel. I've had her for about three years now. I walked past a pet shop in Chicago, and I fell in love with her. Everyone I know tell me I'm too soft."  
  
"It must be nice to have something to go home to." He said wistfully.  
  
"She's not at 'home'. At the moment she's in kennels in Florida. She stays there until the night before I fly in, then someone usually picks her up and takes her to my place. We love being at the house together."  
  
"You didn't say home." He observed.  
  
"Still getting used to where I'm spending most of my off time. I was living in North Carolina for a long time, and then in Virginia, so in a lot of ways those places are still home for me. But sometimes things change. I love being back in Florida though, it's closer to my parents, where I grew up, all that sort of thing."  
  
"Sounds nice, where in Florida are you?"  
  
"Fort Lauderdale, where it's really residential, sort of out in the open, lots of parks and places to go jogging. It's beautiful."  
  
"Miami, Florida. It's where I live."  
  
"I thought you lived in Atlanta." Lita told him.  
  
That's about where I'm from." He admitted.  
  
She laughed. "We'll probably get some of the same flights back to Florida."  
  
"Yeah, that sounds fairly reasonable." He nodded.  
  
"I don't know about you, but I shouldn't have another drink. I had a couple after the show with Trish and Stacy." Lita told him as the bartender approached them. "Do you want to get some coffee?"  
  
"Sounds good." He nodded, falling into step beside her as they walked out of the bar and into the 'cafe' section, to order what Lita called 'coffee flavored sugar hits.'  
  
*********  
  
"So I should probably walk you up to your room." Goldberg told her as they approached the elevator. "If you like."  
  
"What floor are you on?'  
  
"Four." She told him. "Room 306."  
  
*******  
  
At the door, the pair stood awkwardly for a moment, unsure of what to say, or do.  
  
"So, uh, I had fun tonight." Goldberg told her.  
  
"Yeah, me too." Lita answered, then, as a spur of the moment gesture spoke again. "Would you like to come in?"  
  
He nodded slowly. "Yeah that would be..."  
  
Not thinking, she reached up and kissed him.  
  
As they broke away, he blinked at her.  
  
She smiled, "I couldn't think of any other way to stop you talking."  
  
"It worked."  
  
"Then why are you still..." She was silenced as he leaned down to kiss her. Unconciously she leaned against him, feeling his muscles beneath his clothes. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer.  
  
Still kissing him, Lita locked her legs around his waist, and Bill shoved the door closed as he carried her inside. 


	2. Conversations, breakfast and conflicts

A/N: Longer post this time. Thanks to the three people who reviewed so quickly, I really appreciate it.  
  
The way to understand this story fully is to see Goldberg in the way that I've chosen to show him, and that's as someone who will do anything to protect the people he cares about, but who is a lot more caring and gentle than he appears in the ring.  
  
Same for Lita, she's a bit softer, funny, smart, but fiercely independent and fiercely protective of her friends and family.  
  
Anyway, read enjoy, and if you like it (or think it's really bad) drop me a line.  
  
Part 2.  
  
Still in the preliminary stages of waking up, Lita felt a gentle hand resting on her stomach. Sleepily she turned her head to look over at the other side of the bed.  
  
A flood of memory interrupted her grogginess. Bill Goldberg. Her hotel room. Morning. Not bothering to comprehend any of the thoughts, or not wanting to, she laid her head back down on her pillow and closed her eyes, trying to comprehend what she was feeling, and why.  
  
In his sleep Bill repositioned his hand on her belly, moving closer to her, and deep sense of calm washed over her. This was it. This was safety. Bill stirred again, this time waking, moving to kiss her neck, as though he was trying to wake her gently.  
  
"I'm awake." She said softly, twisting around in bed so that she was facing him.  
  
"How long have you been up?" He asked, matching her quiet tones.  
  
"Not long. I was just thinking."  
  
"Are you... okay? I'll leave if you want." Bill moved slightly, like he was going to sit up.  
  
"Don't." She told him. "Don't go."  
  
"I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable."  
  
She curled up against him, feeling his skin smooth and warm against her own. "I don't want you to go. I want you to stay."  
  
"But do you want me here for the right reasons?"  
  
"I want you here because I feel safe when you're here. I want you here because... because I think I'm falling in love with you." She answered, her voice small, as though she was afraid of rejection.  
  
"That is a very good answer." He smiled, wrapping his arms around her, and kissing her mouth. "It almost means that I can't leave at all."  
  
"Then I think you should stay." She told him, her words broken in between kisses.  
  
"We really have to get up." Bill lay on his back, Lita half on top of him.  
  
"I know. I think I was supposed to meet Trish an hour ago." She smiled, comfortable on his chest.  
  
"What do you say we go out tonight? I'll make dinner reservations somewhere, and then we can see a movie or something." He suggested.  
  
"Sounds nice." She agreed, nodding her head.  
  
They were interrupted by a series of loud thumps on the door, and a voice calling out, "Lita, open this door right now!"  
  
The pair broke off their last kiss. Lita smiled. "That's Trish. I'd better go and talk to her. It'll only take a minute. Stay here."  
  
The thumps on the door began again as Lita pulled her robe on and walked over to it, tying the sash as she walked. "All right!" She shouted, opening the door.  
  
"What happened to meeting me?" Trish fired at her.  
  
"I got a little caught up. Give me twenty minutes to have a shower, and I'll be there." She explained quietly.  
  
"Oh." Trish nodded in a knowing way, taking in her friend's appearance. "Twenty minutes, and I want to know everything."  
  
"Promise. Keep it quiet 'til then?"  
  
"You don't even have to ask." The Canadian blonde reminded her.  
  
"You're a legend." Lita hugged her, then closed the door.  
  
"How did you get rid of her?" Bill asked as she dropped back down onto the bed.  
  
"I'm meeting her in twenty minutes." Lita told him.  
  
"We'd both better get up."  
  
She kissed him once more before he left for his own room, then turned to go into the bathroom and take a shower. With the hot water beating down on her skin, soaking her to the bone, sending spires of steam into the air, Lita smiled. She really had a lot to tell her best friend.  
  
*********  
  
Once she was showered and changed, Lita found Trish in the dining room, absently stirring a cup of coffee with a spoon. "Morning." She sat down opposite the blonde, brushing her damp hair back from her face with her fingers, freeing the tendrils that had stuck to her neck.  
  
"That's all you have to say? You ditch me for some guy and all you can say is 'morning'." Trish said to her.  
  
"I'm sorry." Lita apologised. "I didn't set my alarm clock, and I..."  
  
"It's fine really, I was joking." Trish interrupted her. "God, you look so happy. You know that you're bordering on glowy, right?"  
  
Lita beamed at her friend. "I have so much to tell you."  
  
"So start talking."  
  
"Not here, not where..." She made a small gesture, indicating the room, where quite a few other RAW personnel, as well as Superstars and Divas were having late breakfasts or morning tea.  
  
"Oh." Trish seemed to understand. "Why don't we head out for a while then, hit some stores, get some coffee."  
  
"Sounds good to me." Lita agreed. "We just have to find one of our co-GM's and clear it with them."  
  
"Are you ladies looking for me?" Stone Cold appeared at their side, as though he'd sprung out of thin air.  
  
"We were thinking about heading into the city, going shopping for a couple of hours." Trish told him. "Is that okay?"  
  
"That sounds all right. I'll get someone to give you a call if we need you." He agreed. "Have fun."  
  
"I know who I prefer as GM." Lita said in a clear voice, her comment heard not only by half the RAW roster, but also by most of the staff, and Eric Bischoff.  
  
"That's not a nice thing to say Lita." Triple H stood up from his table.  
  
"Yeah well, forgive me for preferring the boss who doesn't feel the need to have my naked body plastered all over America in some sleazy magazine." She shot back.  
  
"What makes you think people would pay to see it?" He sneered.  
  
"What makes you believe they wouldn't?" She shot back, standing up herself, not feeling intimidated at all by his sheer size. "See I'm not like you, Hunter. I don't need to pay anyone to sleep with me. Lots of people would rather pay me for my time, but again, I'm not like you because I've never taken up on an offer."  
  
The dining room fell eerily silent at her words, with people looking at one another, not game to say a word.  
  
From across the room Goldberg watched as Lita stood up to Triple H, one of the most feared people in the industry.  
  
It was like looking at David versus Goliath, except this David was a whole lot more self assured. Still, ignoring his companions Shawn Michaels, Kevin Nash and Scott Steiner, Goldberg got up, making his way silently across the room, wanting to be on hand in case something happened, and Triple H cracked.  
  
Triple H looked her up and down, then sneered. "I know I wouldn't. I'd want that view for free."  
  
To his utmost horror, she laughed at him. Lita laughed in his face, looking completely unthreatened, while he stood there for a moment, shocked that she wasn't cowering on the floor in front of him, as he gave her the look that had brought superstars to their knees before him. And she was laughing.  
  
Unconsciously he moved his right hand, as though he was about to hit her, then followed through with the motion, his hand connecting with her cheek making a sickening sound. Moving her feet slightly to brace herself, Lita managed to stay on her feet, bringing her right hand up to slap him in the face, freezing the taller, bulkier man where he stood.  
  
Goldberg could see that Stone Cold Steve Austin and a lot of other superstar were furious that Hunter had hit her.  
  
"What was that supposed to do?" Lita asked him "Was it supposed to make you feel like a big man? Was it supposed to make me cry?" She looked up into his face, showing him that she was not afraid, not under any circumstances.  
  
"Shut up and get the hell outta here." Hunter told her.  
  
"Why? You don't like being told the truth about yourself? Or are you just too afraid to hear it?" She shot back, waiting for his next blow, standing firm, not moving an inch.  
  
In front of her, the taller man seemed to grow taller for a moment, and wince in pain.  
  
"Apologize." A voice spoke calmly, pulling up on Triple H's twisted arm.  
  
"Someone do something." Triple H said, wincing as he spoke.  
  
Bischoff looked at the cold fury on Goldberg's face, staying put at his table, unwilling to face the enraged Goldberg.  
  
"Austin, do something." Triple H said again, imploring the co-GM to help.  
  
"I think you should apologize." Austin told him, enjoying the show.  
  
"Let me go, and I'll apologize." He whimpered.  
  
Reluctantly, Goldberg let go, allowing Triple H to straighten up.  
  
"Now apologise." Stone Cold demanded.  
  
"Sorry." Triple H said begrudgingly, not even looking at her.  
  
"Say it, and mean it." Austin said to him, looking Triple H in the eyes.  
  
"What do you want me to say?"  
  
"How about something along the lines of 'I'm sorry that I'm a disgusting perverted son of a bitch, who doesn't deserve any woman because you're too much of a self centered, ego-maniacal jerk, whose sole existence in this world is an insult to people everywhere.'" Trish suggested, standing next to Lita, hands on her hips.  
  
Stone Cold nodded and smiled grimly. "That sounds about right."  
  
"Lita I'm sorry if I upset you. I'll try not to do it again." Triple H improvised.  
  
"Try?" Shawn Michaels asked Kevin Nash quietly, both standing next to Goldberg and Austin. "If he upsets her again I think he'll have his shoulder dislocated."  
  
"I'm sorry too." Lita told Triple H, her calm, clear voice became icy and unforgiving. "I'm sorry you didn't learn better manners, and get beat up more often at school. Maybe if you had been you'd be a nicer person."  
  
"I don't ever want to see you lay a hand on one of the divas again." Austin told him, getting in Hunter's face. "If you do, I will make sure it costs you your job."  
  
"Let's get out of here." Trish said to Lita, picking up their wallets, and passing Lita's to her.  
  
"Aren't you going to sit down and drink your coffee?" Bischoff asked, finally speaking.  
  
"I don't think I could." Lita snapped at him, her voice barely containing the revulsion she felt. "There's too many people here who make me sick."  
  
She shot a parting glance at both Triple H and Goldberg before following Trish out of the room.  
  
"Maybe you should get some ice on your cheek!" Randy Orton called after the two women.  
  
At once Lita pivoted on her heel. "Do you need ice whenever you get bitch- slapped?"  
  
"No." He answered.  
  
"Then shut up before I bitch slap you so hard you'll be putting ice on your cheek for a week!" She turned and disappeared around the corner of the hotel lobby with Trish, clear to everyone that both divas were furious. 


	3. Coffee, shopping and dinner

A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys, and for the great reads that I keep finding on the site. This post is a bit longer than the last two, tell me what you think.  
  
Samantha.  
  
Part 3.  
  
As Trish and Lita sat in a cafe, each with a steaming cup of coffee sitting in front of them Trish broached the subject again. "I still want to know everything about this guy."  
  
"I met him last night, but I knew of him before then." Lita began haltingly.  
  
"And?"  
  
"We talked in the hall for a bit, then went down to the bar and had a drink, got some coffee and he walked me back to my room." Lita explained.  
  
"Then?"  
  
"Then I asked him if he wanted to come in, and I kissed him. He spent the night with me."  
  
"Whoa. He was there when I talked to you, wasn't he?" Trish accused, a playful smile on her face.  
  
"Yeah he was there." She affirmed. "Didn't leave until just after you did."  
  
"So now the only thing I need to know about this guy is his name."  
  
"Bill Goldberg." Lita answered, a smile touching the corners of her mouth before spreading to her entire face.  
  
"Oh my God, no! You're joking!" Trish exclaimed. "That guy is... practically a catch and a half, and that thing with Hunter this morning."  
  
"Yeah. We just started off talking about what it was like coming back to the WWE. Turns out we've had a lot of similar experiences, lots in common." She confided.  
  
"So it wasn't just a one night thing then, was it?"  
  
"I really like him Trish. I haven't felt this way about a guy since Matt and I were together, maybe before then. When we broke up there was so much bad blood, so much left unspoken for so long. Bill and I are going out tonight."  
  
"On a date?" Trish asked.  
  
Lita nodded. "He's making us dinner reservations, and then we're going to do something afterwards."  
  
"So shopping really was a good idea." Trish beamed. "You need a dress, and shoes, and a purse and wrap. Oooh, we could go to a salon and you can get your hair done and everything." The blonde woman bounced excitedly in her seat.  
  
"I knew you'd enjoy this." Lita smiled at her.  
  
"Have you thought about changing the color?" The salon's colorist asked.  
  
"Not for a while no." Lita admitted.  
  
"Natural brunette, we could make it any color you like. Pink, green, blue. Just something different for a while."  
  
"Come on." Trish urged her. "Make a change."  
  
"Uhh..." Lita found herself speechless.  
  
"Blue would be a great color on you." The colorist told her again. "It will bring out the color of your eyes, and it will look great against your skin tone."  
  
"Okay." Lita agreed. "But I don't want all of my hair blue. Can you just dye it back to dark brown and do the blue in chunky streaks?"  
  
The colorist beamed. "I love it. Let's get started."  
  
"So what do you think?" Lita stared into the mirror, reflecting her new hair color.  
  
Lita turned to look up at the colorist, "I love it, thank you."  
  
"Blue's the new you, Li." Trish agreed.  
  
"And you sound like a poet too." Lita laughed, getting up and making her way to the counter to pay for her cut, color and streaks.  
  
"So now you need a dress, and shoes and a wrap." Trish told her as they walked out of the salon.  
  
"Where do you want to go?" Lita asked her.  
  
"How about over here." The blonde grabbed her blue-haired friend's hand and pulled her towards some stores.  
  
"What sort of impression do you want to make tonight?" Trish asked, holding up two dresses.  
  
"I don't know, we don't really have the awkward first date thing though, I mean I already slept with him. Plus, he knows that I'm just me, I don't really want anything too dramatic I guess."  
  
"The eternally popular little black dress." Trish suggested holding up two, one flowing with thick straps and a square-ish neckline, the other, tight strapless and short.  
  
"This one?" Lita took one of the dresses and went to try it on.  
  
"Damn girl, you're gonna knock his block off in that one." The blonde woman said looking at her.  
  
"It's not too much?"  
  
"It's enough to remind him that you're a woman, and a damn fine looking one at that."  
  
"Let me get changed again, then we'll finish giving my AmEx it's workout." Lita told her, turning around so that Trish could start to undo the zipper.  
  
*********  
  
"Let me go, you two!" Lita exclaimed, trying once more to make a break for it.  
  
"Sit your butt down there on that chair, and do not move." Trish warned, turning back to her friend to take the last of the rollers out of Lita's long hair.  
  
"I don't get this." Lita said aloud. "If you want to straighten my hair, why are you using rollers?"  
  
"We're using big ones." Stacy told her. "They won't make your hair curl, they're too big to let curls form, because the curls would be too heavy to hold."  
  
"Next thing I know I'm going to get the perm talk." Lita muttered.  
  
"Quiet." Stacy commanded. "And close your eyes." Reluctantly Lita sat still and closed her eyes, allowing Stacy to do whatever it was that she was doing.  
  
"Okay." Trish told her. "Now open up, and look in the mirror."  
  
Lita was wide eyed as she stared at her reflection. Long dark brown hair, shot through with blue lay straight, falling against her cheeks, brushing her ears, while her fringe had been pulled back and pinned in place. Stacy had done something to her eyes, making Lita unsure whether or not she recognized them, black lashes framing vivid blue eyes, with silvery-blue eye shadow applied so that it was sort of smoky, completed with pale pink lip gloss, making her lips look fuller.  
  
"We figured that you wouldn't reapply lipstick." Stacy told her, sitting down on the bench, and passing Lita the tube of gloss they had used.  
  
"Thanks guys." Lita turned and hugged them both, glancing at the clock as she did so. "Oooh, I'm late. I have to go. Thanks again you two."  
  
"Stace, I think that is some of our best work." Trish declared, once Lita had left.  
  
"She's so gorgeous." Stacy agreed. "Next challenge is to see if we can find something more tasteful than combat shorts for her to wear in the ring."  
  
"Not even I could convince her to give up her combat shorts. They're part of what makes Lita, Lita. I wouldn't change her for the world." Trish told the younger woman.  
  
"Oh, look. She's left everything behind." Stacy said, spotting Lita's purse, phone and wrap lying on one of the chairs.  
  
"I'll take it to her." Trish said, scooping the pile of things up.  
  
As she walked down the hall, Lita adjusted her dress, checking her reflection in the glass of one of the external windows. The black dress she had chosen, with Trish's help, was short and strapless, with black strappy heels to finish the look.  
  
"Lita! Looking good, where are you off to tonight?" Inwardly she groaned. Triple H was the last person she wanted to see. She stopped and turned to face him, flanked as she knew he would be, by Ric Flair and Randy Orton. "Does it really matter?" She asked.  
  
"Nice hair, what happened to the red?"  
  
She paused, remembering the image of her newly dyed hair, dark brown, with blue streaks. "I decided I liked blue." She answered, though her heart really wasn't in it.  
  
"Reminds me of Jeff Hardy's hair. You aren't taking fashion tips from him are you?" Triple H sneered.  
  
"Jeff's is more bubblegum colored at the moment, Lita's seems to be more of an electric blue." Trish smiled, walking up behind her, saving Lita from answering him. "You forgot your purse, and your phone, and your wrap."  
  
Inspite of herself Lita flushed, accepting the items from her friend. "You're a life saver."  
  
"You've got cash, and your AmEx, right?" Trish asked.  
  
"Both." Lita confirmed.  
  
"Are you her mom or something?" Randy sniggered.  
  
"No." A voice said calmly, the man stopping beside the two ladies. "I'd say that they're friends. You three don't know much about that, though."  
  
"Goldberg." Triple H growled.  
  
"No need to be polite Hunter." Goldberg answered. "Lita, you look great." There was no mistaking the appraisal in his voice.  
  
She smiled at him. "Thank you."  
  
Trish patted Lita's hands away as the brunette moved to adjust the hem on her dress again.  
  
"Are you right to go?" He asked.  
  
"Yeah, I forgot some of my stuff, but I'm good now." She answered him, babbling a little.  
  
"You aren't seriously going out with him." Randy said, looking at Lita.  
  
"And who are you, my father?" She shot at him.  
  
"Ah-ah-ah-ahem." Evolution's demeanor changed as they heard the sound of Stone Cold Steve Austin's increasingly familiar method of interruption.  
  
"Here comes daddy." Flair mumbled, sarcasm evident.  
  
"What do you want Austin?" Triple H asked, his tone harsh and angry.  
  
"Nothing from you." Austin told him. "So you can just piss off."  
  
"You can't just tell him to piss off." Flair interrupted.  
  
"I just did didn't I?" Austin told him. "Get gone."  
  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Intercontinental Champion standing here."  
  
Austin groaned. "You piss off too, you creepy little bastard."  
  
Lita smiled at the look on Christian's face, trying hard not to laugh.  
  
"What do you want?" Randy asked.  
  
"Not you." Austin told him, then turned to Goldberg. "You're taking Lita out tonight."  
  
"Yeah." Goldberg answered.  
  
"On a date."  
  
"Yeah." Goldberg answered again. "I'm only gonna warn you, because I'm a good guy, and I'm only gonna warn you once." Austin told him.  
  
"Okay."  
  
"Heavy Weight Champion of the World or not, you upset this lady, treat her in any way that she finds unsatisfactory and the word gets back to me, and word will get back to me, make no mistake about it, I will beat you like I have beaten no other man." Austin began. "I will find you, and beat you down, no matter where you go."  
  
"Hello, standing in the room, or hall, and very capable of looking after herself." Lita waved her hand in the space between the two men to try and get their attention.  
  
"I'll take care of her." Goldberg agreed.  
  
"Still standing here, and waiting for you both to get over your macho moment." Lita folded her arms across her chest.  
  
"Bill, you make sure you take good care of our girl."  
  
"What do I have to do to be included in this conversation?" Lita asked them. "Flash my top or something?"  
  
"Yes please." Randy Orton oogled her, while she glared at him in disgust.  
  
"Where are you going?" Austin asked.  
  
"A restaurant, then wherever she wants to go." Goldberg answered.  
  
"How about we just stand here all night, and everyone except perv-boy can ignore me?" Lita suggested sarcastically.  
  
"Don't be like that." Goldberg placated her.  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"Sarcastic."  
  
"You know you love it." She smiled at him, a genuine smile, then pulled on his hand.  
  
"Lita." Steve's voice was enough to stop her in her tracks.  
  
"Yes Steve?" She asked, an air of sweetness in her voice that was rarely heard.  
  
"Behave yourself. Be careful, and for god's sake, don't do anything I wouldn't do." Steve warned her.  
  
"Anything you wouldn't do when you're drunk, or anything you wouldn't do when you're sober?" She asked him, a teasing note in her voice, making him smile as much as she was.  
  
"Either. Don't to anything I wouldn't do that you will regret the next morning." He answered. "Be good. And have a nice time, both of you."  
  
"Yes dad." Lita laughed, then pulled on Bill's hand again. "Let's get out of here."  
  
Bill allowed her to lead him down the hall, away from the others, and out to the car park.  
  
"They weren't just, you know, flirting in the hall here were they?" Triple H asked, incredulous.  
  
"I think it's sweet. Trish told him.  
  
"You would." Randy told her, as Evolution, and Christian began to move off.  
  
"Hold it right there." Stone Cold commanded. "CLB, that means you too."  
  
"What now?" Flair asked.  
  
"Get back here."  
  
"You told us all to piss off." Randy told him, coming to a halt near Austin with the other members of Evolution.  
  
"I changed my mind." Stone Cold snapped at them. "You are not to harass Lita in any way, shape or form. Am I making myself clear?"  
  
"You couldn't do anything about it anyway." Triple H snorted.  
  
"Consider it this way, you harm her, lay one finger on her, or get anyone else to, and it will be physical provocation... for me. I doubt there'd be much left of you by the time I got in on the act anyway though." Austin said thoughtfully.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ric asked.  
  
"If you harm her, by the time Bill is through with you, I don't think there'll be much of you left." Austin told them. "Consider it a warning."  
  
"We're warned." Triple H said derisively, walking off.  
  
"And you, CLB. You interrupt me once more, and you'll get more than an Intercontinental Title match. You'll get an eight man threat match, elimination, winner takes the title. Or a match against Kane. I haven't decided yet. Now get gone."  
  
Trish still stood in the same place she'd been in since Lita and Bill had left. Austin turned to look at her. "Watch out for Lita. She's a good girl, but she's made a lot of enemies."  
  
"In the supporters of the Bishoff administration anyway." She told him.  
  
"Look out for her."  
  
"She's my best friend, and she's always stood by me, I'd never do anything less than my best to protect her." Trish promised.  
  
"Anything else?" Austin asked her.  
  
"Why do you call Christian CLB?" She smiled, almost laughing as she said it.  
  
"Creepy Little Bastard." Stone Cold smiled. "He freaks me out."  
  
Trish laughed, walking back down the hall to her hotel room. 


	4. Leonardo's and autographs

A/N: Finally I'm back!!! I finished my year 12 exams yesterday and for four months I'm home free and writing like a woman possessed.  
  
Survivor Series was just horrible!! Lita lost, Steve got fired, and 'Taker got buried. Someone email me to clarify this, I heard that Paul Heyman is getting fired and Steve is going to replace him as GM of SMACKDOWN! God I hope so.  
  
Next part, R&R  
  
Samantha.  
  
Part 4.  
  
"So where are we going?" Lita asked as they pulled out of the hotel parking lot.  
  
"The restaurant's called Leonardo's." Bill told her.  
  
"That's my favorite restaurant in New York!" She exclaimed, her face glowing.  
  
"I know." He told her.  
  
"How did you know that? I didn't tell you."  
  
"Trish did." He replied. "I wanted to make sure you'd like the restaurant, you know, make sure the food was edible."  
  
"You wanted to make sure the food was edible?" Lita asked him.  
  
"There's nothing worse than going out and the restaurant's food is horrible. Shawn, Kevin and I found that out in Atlantic City. We went to this horrible place, The Seaside Cafe, I think, and the food, it was seafood was bad. Worse than bad. We all had food poisoning for a week."  
  
She smiled. "Leonardo's makes the best food. And they have just about everything too." She promised.  
  
As they got out, Goldberg locked the car, and took her by the hand as they walked inside.  
  
"Welcome to Leonardo's, how can I help you this evening?" The hostess chirped.  
  
"Reservation for Goldberg." Bill told her.  
  
"Table for two." The hostess recited glancing at the record book in front of her. "Luke will take you to your table, enjoy your meals."  
  
"Right this way, please." The bus boy was only about nineteen, and it was clear from his backward glances that he recognized both of them.  
  
As they reached 'their' table, Bill turned to her, seating her like a gentleman, while the bus boy made himself scarce as Bill leaned down to kiss her.  
  
"Did I mention that the staff here are really friendly?" Lita whispered, as 'Luke' disappeared to find them a complimentary bottle of wine.  
  
He smiled. "I can't believe someone would go to the trouble of getting us a bottle of wine just because..."  
  
"Because we're both of TV every week?" She asked. "Believe me, it gets worse. Trish and I went shopping in Ontario once. We ended up barricaded in one of the stores, we literally couldn't get out because there were so many people trying to mob us, and the store manager had to lock all of the doors so that we'd be safe. That was the last time we went shopping anywhere in Canada alone. Now we take an entourage, and we call ahead so that the stores we want to visit are only open to us."  
  
"Mr. Goldberg?" The bus boy asked, after placing the wine bucket down on the table.  
  
"Yes?" Bill asked him.  
  
"There's a phone call for you, up at the front desk." The boy answered nervously.  
  
"Thanks very much." Goldberg replied pleasantly, "I'd better go and take care of that. Lita, do you need anything?"  
  
"No, I'm okay." She replied as he got to his feet, kissing her forehead as he passed.  
  
"I'll just get you some menus." Luke told her, staring at her for a moment.  
  
"That would be great, thank you." She told him.  
  
Several minutes later Bill sat back down.  
  
"Is everything all right?" Lita asked.  
  
"Yeah," He answered. "It was just some of the guys."  
  
"It was Steve Austin wasn't it?" She asked, not missing a beat.  
  
"Yeah, it was Austin." He told her. "Wanted to make sure we'd gotten here all right. Apparently there was a bad smash on the highway."  
  
"That was good of him."  
  
"Have you ordered yet?" Bill asked, seeing the menus lying on the table.  
  
"No, I thought I'd wait for you." She smiled at him and stared at her menu, trying to decide what to order.  
  
As their meals arrived, Bill began to speak once more. "So, we've covered weather, news, terrorism, and international politics. What frightens you?" Bill asked her.  
  
"Nothing. I'm not afraid of anything." She replied immediately, not thinking at all about her answer, not wanting to admit any kind of weakness.  
  
"Come on Lita. You are one of the most powerful Diva's in the WWE. The whole world knows how tough you are. What I want to know is what scares you."  
  
"You want to know what scares me?" She asked in reply.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"The best way to learn about someone, especially someone you care about, is to know what they're afraid of. What is it for you?" He asked. "Spiders? Snakes? Sharks?"  
  
"Maybe." She replied, her voice quieter, softer.  
  
"What are you afraid of?"  
  
"I'm afraid of maybe." She repeated. "It's this thing that you can always change, but sometimes you don't. Like maybe today you'll fall in love. Maybe you won't and the world will stay the same. Maybe it will get colder, darker. Maybe the sky will turn green. Maybe it won't. It's not certain, not concrete. Not real."  
  
"Ghosts, demons, Lita they aren't real either." He told her, trying to reassure her.  
  
"It's a stupid thing to be afraid of, maybe. It's not real. But it's what scares me most."  
  
"Okay, what about your name? Why Lita? I know that your real name is Amy." Bill told her.  
  
"Amy Christine Dumas. Most people find Lita easier. It's an abbreviation of Carmelita, my confirmation name."  
  
She answered. "Not even my parents call me Amy any more."  
  
"I would never have picked you as being religious."  
  
"My mother is Spanish," Lita told him. "She was brought up to be very religious, and my father is French. He used to tell me that during the first French Revolution, when religion was abolished, that the people realized just how important it was to them, and that's why he and my mother go to church, to remind them of what's important to them."  
  
Bill smiled at her. "You're so different than what I would have thought you'd be."  
  
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" She asked.  
  
"Good." He told her. "It's nice to be surprised by someone who doesn't want to hit me."  
  
She laughed. "You are nothing like the guy you are in the ring."  
  
"How so?" Bill asked her.  
  
"Lack of violent behavior, you're funny, and you really know how to make a person think, not just about what's important to them, but about themselves. No one's ever asked me why I'm called Lita before." She told him.  
  
"You'd know more about the other guys than I would." Bill said to her. "What are they like outside the ring?"  
  
"Tommy Dreamer is one of the sweetest people you'd ever meet. Forget him being the 'innovator of violence'. He's the kind of person who would do anything for you, if you just asked. Rob Van Dam likes to pretend that he's a big macho guy, but he's another big softie. Once he missed his plane, and screwed up his hotel bookings, everything, all because Trish and I were having trouble with her car. Stone Cold Steve Austin is the happiest drunk I have ever had the good fortune to meet. He loves karaoke. He sings in at least one bar in whatever city RAW is in, every week."  
  
"Is he any good?" Bill asked.  
  
"He's pretty good sober, but the drunker he gets, the more animated he is, so it's best to watch him when he's totally drunk and raving." Lita told him. "We had to carry him out of a bar in Michigan once, and he was still singing. All the way back to the hotel the only thing we could hear was him belting out the word to 'Summer of '69.'"  
  
Bill laughed. "Sound like fun."  
  
"Hunter worries me the most." She confided, suddenly becoming serious. "He's changed too much. Ric Flair's had a really bad effect on him."  
  
"People do change." He reminded her.  
  
"Not that much. When we were it ECW, Rob was jumping off anything he could climb onto, Tommy was a genius with a kendo stick, and Jeff Hardy still had blue, purple and green hair. People don't just do 180 degree spins."  
  
"What about Kane?"  
  
"Kane's... Kane's another story. He's very troubled, emotionally, but he doesn't worry me as much as Hunter does." She answered.  
  
"Why not?" "Because although Kane professes to have no conscience, I know who it is, and he would never leave him alone in the world. Undertaker is always watching over Kane, over me, Jeff. Kane doesn't worry me so much, because although his 'displays' of violence are so eerily reminiscent of a psychopath, Hunter's are calculated. That's the difference. Kane's line of thought is, 'raise a little hell,' Hunter's is 'I'll wait, and I'll be patient, but I'm on to you,' and that's what worries me. If he manages to keep Bischoff onside, we could all be in trouble."  
  
"Steve Austin would never let anything like that happen." Bill told her.  
  
"I've been back for two weeks Bill, and I know that there's a movement in the superstars to have Austin fired. Jericho says it every week, he's trying to make him crack."  
  
"There's nothing to worry about, Steve might get suspended, but they'd never fire him."  
  
"Never say never." She told him. "If Austin goes, I'll end up quitting. Steve had the clause written into my contract. If I find myself unhappy in my job, then it's permissible for me to leave without penalization of any kind."  
  
"Quite a clause." He remarked.  
  
"No one's supposed to know about it." She told him. "But Steve wanted me to have a way out if anything ever happened to him. We both know that if Steve was fired Bischoff would come after me."  
  
As Lita looked down at her steamed fish, a very apologetic voice interrupted them. "Excuse me."  
  
She looked up and smiled to see a man standing beside the table, dressed in a suit. "Is there something we can do for you?" She asked politely.  
  
"My son and daughter, they're sitting over there, uh, they were wondering if they could get your autographs. Both of them are big wrestling fans."  
  
"Sure." Lita pulled a black marker out of her purse. "Who should we make them out to?"  
  
"Jackson and Sophie." The man replied, watching as Lita scrawled the two autographs on a pair of clean napkins. Bill waited until she had finished, then borrowed her marker and wrote autographs for the pair as well.  
  
"Thanks for these." The man said to them both. "I should let you get back to your dinner."  
  
"You're welcome." Lita told him "Jackson and Sophie too."  
  
As the trio left the restaurant, Lita waved to them, smiling.  
  
"You love that don't you?" Bill asked her.  
  
"Love what?" She replied, toying with her fish.  
  
"The fans, you love interacting with them."  
  
"You love it too." Lita told him. "They're the people who make us who we are. If I can give just a little back to those people for all that they've done for me, sign an autograph, take a picture, then I'm happy."  
  
"It sounds like a good way to be." Bill smiled and reached out to squeeze her hand across the table. 


	5. Central Park, stars and races

A/N: I only made Lita's hair blue and brown because found this picture of her somewhere with blue streaks and it looked really nice, so blue.  
  
Thanks to everyone who is reviewing for me, I really love it, and thanks to everyone on my favorites lists for providing me with such wonderful reading material to pass the hours.  
  
Part 5.  
  
As the pair left the restaurant Lita found herself almost breathless, not for any physical reason, simply because she was out in the world with this man. With Bill Goldberg, and they were having a wonderful night.  
  
"Where do you want to go now?" He asked as she stood beside him while he unlocked the car.  
  
"Uhh, I'm not sure." She answered as she opened the door and sat down.  
  
"I thought we might check out Central Park. I know it's late, but..."  
  
"Central Park is great." She agreed.  
  
A cool breeze brushed over their skin making Lita shiver as they stood together, simply staring out over the park.  
  
"It's beautiful here." She turned her face up to the sky, letting shadows fill the hollows of her face.  
  
"You're beautiful here." Bill said softly.  
  
She turned her face to stare up at him, here eyes reflecting all of the love and passion she held for him. "What makes here so different?" She asked.  
  
"You're alive here Lita, like this is where you belong. With all of the other things as wild as you are."  
  
"Wild like muggers and other wackos?" She suggested.  
  
"Wild like nature, like a storm or this place. It's like the one wild thing in all of New York City, and you're the one wild person, the one person who is really alive in the entire WWE."  
  
For a moment she just looked at him, then moved in to kiss him. As she pulled away, stopping only inches from his lips, she spoke. "That is probably the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me."  
  
"Then I'm surprised." He told her, wrapping an arm around her slim waist.  
  
"Why's that?"  
  
"Because they can't know you very well." Bill answered. "I've only known you for a little while, and I can see that you're definitely something special. Smart, funny, sarcastic, loyal. There's nothing about you people couldn't compliment."  
  
She flushed, glad that he couldn't see the color of her face in the dark. "There's lots of stuff not to compliment." Lita told him. "Like the fact that I won't go past a puppy without stopping to pat it, like the fact that I never walk away from a fight, no matter how badly I'm out numbered, or the way I always speak my mind. That last one really gets most people. It's how I've made most of my enemies in this business."  
  
"But think of the way other people see you." Bill told her. "They don't see you that way. All they see is a beautiful woman who has more guts than most people could dream of. Who isn't afraid to speak her mind, even against guys who are twice her size. This morning with Hunter, I was frightened for you, worried that he'd hurt you. You never flinched, not once, in front of a man whose favorite activity is psyching people out, then beating them with a sledgehammer. It did the whole RAW roster good to see you stand there and tell him exactly what you think of him."  
  
"He doesn't frighten me." Lita told him. "He'd never lay a hand on me again, and he and I both know it. That's what frightens me. He won't touch me again, if he ever did Austin, Angle, Undertaker would just rip him apart. They might still because I let him hit me today. But the people I care about, Trish, Jeff and so many others... There's no protection for them. It's one of the reasons I went for a drink with you last night. I needed someone on my side, someone who'll help me protect them. I never realized that I'd fall in love with you."  
  
"See what I mean? You've got guts, Lita. It took a lot for you to say that."  
  
"Just you wait until you're on the end of one of my blunt explanations." She answered dryly, though not angrily.  
  
He laughed. "I never know what you're going to come out with next."  
  
"So I should start every sentence with 'Like wow' or 'Oh my god, that was totally cool.'?" Lita asked, putting on a very fake sounding, over- exaggerated American accent. "Just so that I sound predictable?"  
  
"Please don't." He begged, "I couldn't handle that." Once he'd spoken he stared deep into her eyes. "Everything is in perspective when I'm with you."  
  
"You how I keep perspective?" Lita asked him, taking his large hand in her own.  
  
Bill shook his head. "No."  
  
She gestured towards the stars. "When I was a little girl, someone told me that all I had to do to succeed in anything, was pick a star, and follow it. I've been doing that ever since. At home in Florida I go out onto the balcony at night. Just looking up at the stars you have to realize that there's something bigger than you out there, something more important. There first time I won the Women's Title, that night I went out for celebrations and stuff, but when we got back to the hotel, and everyone was sleeping off their alcohol, I asked the manager if I could go up onto the roof, on top of the hotel. I just sat there for hours watching the stars until the sun came up. When I was in rehab, after I broke my neck they pulled me through. I had a skylight put in my bedroom roof made of one way glass, so that I could lie there and look up at them."  
  
"That sounds sad." Bill observed sympathetically.  
  
"It was. For a long time I was battling with negative media, like would I ever wrestle again, would I ever touch the Women's Title again, was I through with Matt Hardy. Did you know that for some of those stars up there, in the time it takes for their light to shine through space, so that we can see it, the star has died?"  
  
"No I didn't know that." He answered, truly interested in what she was saying.  
  
"That's the only thought that kept me going. I thought that if I could still see those stars, then maybe someone somewhere was wrong. Maybe those stars were still alive, they were just changing into something else. Like I was changing. As long as I could see them, I was going to get better. I owe more to the stars than I do to the sports psychologists I saw while I was out."  
  
"I think it's great that you have such a strong belief in something like that."  
  
"What about you?" She asked. "What do you use to get yourself through?"  
  
"I was sixteen, and my friend Alex and I decided that we wanted to be WWF superstars (when Goldberg was a kid it would have been WWF, not WWE). We trained together, really looked into it, making sure we ate right, did all the physical stretches, prepared ourselves the best way we could. One night we decided that we'd walk to a party someone was having. It was only two streets away from Alex's house, so we thought we'd just meet at the party, eight o'clock beside the keg. When he was twenty minutes late I went to look for him. He never made it to the party that night, and I never went back. While I was walking to his house I found him, lying on the footpath. I didn't find out until later that he'd been hit by a car, but he was still alive, semi-conscious, so I called an ambulance and rode to the hospital with him, called his parents on the way. Before I called them, he told me to promise that I would win the World Heavy Weight Title, and I promised him that. I promised that I would wear it for the both of us. When I called his parents Alex spoke his last words to them, and died before we got to the hospital. Alex gets me through, wherever I am. As a kid I was a hot head, still am. Alex never lost his temper, his thoughts were always logical and organized. I try to make sure I'm thinking like he would when I'm stuck in a place I don't want to be. I carry him everywhere with me." The big man gestured to his arm, where one of his tattoos was hidden beneath his shirt. "Alex was an artist, he loved drawing up logos, symbols. That one he made for me. It was supposed to be some kind of gift. The morning after he died I found it in his room, in his sketchbook. I had it tattooed my arm the same day. Ever since then I've made it my trademark."  
  
"That's not a bad idea." She admitted. "I've never found a design for a tattoo that's perfect, even though I have three already, they were just to commemorate things."  
  
They stopped walking, and Bill wrapped his arms around her. "Lita you're freezing!" He exclaimed, feeling the chill on her skin.  
  
"Am I?" She asked, touching her face and arms. "I didn't even notice."  
  
"Do you want to head back to the hotel now?" Bill asked her, slipping his jacket around her shoulders.  
  
"Mmmm." She nodded, leaning against him, reaching up to kiss him.  
  
As their mouths broke apart, Goldberg spoke again. "We should really get back to the car. I'll be lucky if a search party hasn't been sent out for you."  
  
She smiled up at him, the innocent look turning into one of mischief. "Race you there then!" She shouted, taking off before he could move.  
  
Lita glanced over her shoulder as she ran, to make sure that he was coming after her. To her surprise he'd made up a lot of ground, and was still gaining on her. With a sudden urge of determination she put her head down and ran as fast as her heels would let her. She reached the car only an instant before he did, slamming her hip into the stationary vehicle, wincing as she tried to stop, and bouncing off the car.  
  
"Take it easy." Bill reassured her, having caught her before she hit the ground. To his surprise she began to laugh. In spite of himself, and his worry for her, Goldberg began to laugh too, scooping her up and sitting her on the bonnet of the car.  
  
"Are you okay?" He asked breathlessly when they'd stopped laughing.  
  
"Yeah." She grinned at him. "I can't believe I did something so stupid."  
  
"Look at it this way, you didn't dent the car. At least I don't have to tell people Lita hit my car and it came off second best."  
  
She smiled, lacing her hands behind his neck and pulling him forward to kiss him. As the kiss broke off his hands found her hips and waist, the flat of her belly, while his lips found her neck and the tops of her shoulders. Lita ran her hand along his cheek, slowing him, then stopping him. "I think we should head back to the hotel." Her voice was husky, inflamed with passion.  
  
"That sounds like a good idea." His voice matched hers as he lifted her from the bonnet and opened the car door for her.  
  
*********  
  
At the hotel Bill practically threw his keys at the valet, pausing only to sign him an autograph for his kids. He had dropped Lita off out the front of the hotel so that she wouldn't have to wait for him and the valet, to get some warmer clothing.  
  
In the hotel lobby, Stone Cold stared as he watched Lita enter the hotel, alone.  
  
At once he excused himself from his drinking partners, Booker T, the Dudleyz, Tommy Dreamer and Rob Van Dam.  
  
"Lita!" He called across the lobby, making her turn to face him, the others not realizing who Stone Cold was talking to until she turned around and walked towards them.  
  
"Is everything okay?" She asked, a worried expression on her face.  
  
"Where the hell's Bill?" Steve asked, pulling no punches, coming directly to the point.  
  
With a flood of realization Lita realized that Steve thought Bill had left her alone somewhere. "He's with the valet, parking the car." She told him, a smile playing on her lips. "I came in without him so that I could get some warmer clothes, it's freezing outside, I mean I know it gets cold in New York. I guess I forgot just how cold."  
  
"You will tell me if Bill upsets you, won't you?" Steve asked, not caring that the other guys were listening.  
  
"I think Lita'll just whip his ass." Rob interrupted.  
  
"Yeah." She rolled her eyes at him.  
  
"You've gotta admit Lita." Bubba Ray said to her. "This morning you did what most Superstars would be afraid to do when you told Triple H off."  
  
"Hunter was acting like as ass. He has no game, he is no game, and if he worked that out, he'd be a much better person." Lita told them.  
  
"Isn't that a little harsh?" Booker T asked. "A man's gotta have his thang."  
  
"Like you're the five time, five time, five time, five time, five time WCW Champion, Booker?" She asked, "People can deal with that. They can deal with R-V-D, no I'm not making hand gestures." She looked at Rob Van Dam. "But to walk around saying 'I'm the game, I am that damn good.' Cerebral Assassin. No one gives a shit. Frankly I'm glad he's not the World Heavy Weight Champion any more, it made him more of an egotistical jerk and an ass than I remember him being."  
  
"Are you planning on telling Triple H this?" D-Von Dudley asked.  
  
"Is that a hint to let me know he's standing right behind me?" She asked, turning around to face Triple H, then turned back to the others. "No offense guys, but you're a little slow on the uptake, there's only one guy who could fill that many panes of glass with his reflection, sorry I meant ego. I know you've been standing there since I started talking." She told them all, addressing her last comment to Hunter.  
  
"One day Lita, you're gonna get yours." Hunter snarled at her.  
  
"Yeah right." Goldberg told him, sliding his arm around Lita's waist and kissing the top of her head.  
  
"You know the scary thing." Stone Cold said to Triple H. "She doesn't even need Bill to beat on your ass. Given the chance she could probably do it herself."  
  
"What's she gonna do Steve? Bitch slap me a few times?"  
  
"That." Lita agreed. "Probably scratch your eyes out, few low blows. You'd cry like a baby."  
  
"Lita." Stone Cold warned her.  
  
"Yes Steve?" She asked sweetly.  
  
"Maybe you should say good night everyone."  
  
"Goodnight everyone." She replied, not moving, a teasing look on her face.  
  
"Come on." Goldberg said to her. "You don't really want to hang around him do you?"  
  
Lita shook her head, bumping it against his shoulder as she did so.  
  
"Come on then." Surprising her, Bill scooped her up in his arms, spinning her around, while she squealed with laughter, wrapping her arms around his neck to steady herself.  
  
Stone Cold and the others watched, alarmed for several moments until they realized that she was laughing, not screaming.  
  
"Goodnight everyone!" She called back over Bill's shoulder, waving as he carried her into the elevator.  
  
"They both looked so happy." Spike Dudley observed.  
  
"She has that effect on most people." Trish told them, the men all turning to look at her. "Even when it feels like the world is falling down around you, she can make it all seem okay, just by smiling."  
  
"Why didn't you talk to her?" Rob asked.  
  
"Because she's my best friend. I'll hear all about it tomorrow morning. In detail if I know Lita. Besides, I didn't want to intrude on them."  
  
"I didn't intrude did I?" Steve asked, suddenly worried.  
  
"No, it's different for you. You're worried he's going to treat her badly and break her heart. I'm not worried about that because I don't need to be." Trish reassured him.  
  
"How do you know that they're going to be okay?" Booker T asked.  
  
"She loves him, and Lita's always been pretty good at getting what she wants. Besides, I did the sensible thing, I talked to Goldberg."  
  
"You talked to him?" Steve asked, as though the idea had just occurred to him.  
  
"He came to ask me where Lita might like to go, her favorite places in New York. A guy who's going to break someone's heart doesn't do that. He takes you to any old place, generally wherever he likes to go, leads you on, gets you drunk and then sleeps with you. He's not like that. I think those two are going to be okay. They have a lot in common."  
  
"What do they have in common?" Bubba Ray asked.  
  
"Neither of them were exactly welcomed into the WWE, or in Lita's case back to the WWE, and both of them have real enemies here for a start." Trish told them.  
  
"You're right." Steve said, scratching his chin, the way he did when he was thinking. "I might organize her a party, a tribute segment on RAW."  
  
"This party wouldn't take the form of a beer bash would it?" Trish teased him.  
  
"She'll love it." Austin promised.  
  
"One thing," Trish began, "You might want to downplay anything about Matt Hardy in that tribute. Lita and Jeff are still close, but when she and Matt split up was a pretty dark time for her. I don't think she'll like being reminded of it."  
  
"What do you mean?" Stone Cold asked.  
  
"I mean that if you make her cry, I think she'll hit you." Trish warned. "It would be like Hunter punching you in the face."  
  
"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for the warning." Steve told her.  
  
"Sit with us and have a drink Trish." Rob told her. "Save you going upstairs and sitting in your room alone."  
  
"Yeah, one drink." Trish agreed.  
  
Upstairs Lita fumbled with the keycard for her room before opening the door.  
  
Immediately they pair moved inside, hands feeling for the fastenings of each other's clothes. Lita reached up and pulled Bill's shirt over his head, running her hands down his bare chest, while he fumbled with the fastening on her dress.  
  
Once he'd unhooked the top of the zip, her dress came away easily, leaving her clad in only black lace lingerie, and black heels, while she undid his belt with deft fingers.  
  
Free of her dress Bill ran his hands over her back and belly, feeling the smooth contours of her muscles beneath her skin, kissing her neck and throat. Finally, free of their outer clothes the pair collapsed onto the bed, kissing passionately. 


	6. Ice skating and injuries

Part 6.  
  
Early that morning Lita woke still wrapped protectively in his arms, with Goldberg looking down at her, gently brushing a lock of hair away from her face. "Good morning."  
  
She smiled, twisting slightly so that she could wrap her arms round him. "I love you." She lay there silently for a little while, just listening to his heartbeat.  
  
"What are you thinking about?" He asked, leaning down to kiss her.  
  
"Nothing really. Just relaxing. I don't do it very often."  
  
"Don't relax, or don't have sex?" Bill teased.  
  
"Relax." She smiled at him.  
  
"What do you want to do today?" He asked.  
  
"I wanna do what every girl wants to do when they're in New York." She answered. "I wanna either go ice skating, or play chess in Central Park near the Arc de Triomphe."  
  
"You never fail to surprise me." He laughed.  
  
"What do you want to do?" Lita asked him.  
  
"I..." Bill was cut off by someone banging on the door and shouting in the corridor.  
  
"Are you two up?"  
  
"Who the hell's voice is that?" She asked Bill, not recognizing the shouting.  
  
"Come on! I don't have all day!" The voice yelled out again.  
  
"Who the hell is it!" Lita yelled back, but didn't receive an answer. Grumbling she dragged herself out of bed, pulling her robe on, and crossed the room to open the door. "What the hell do you want?" She snapped at whoever was making so much noise.  
  
"Lita, uh... Sorry." Kevin Nash looked a little embarrassed.  
  
"Sorry." Lita apologized for yelling at him. "Was there something you wanted?"  
  
"Trish." He began.  
  
"Is Trish all right?" She asked.  
  
"Yeah, she uh, she asked me to come and get you two up. Apparently a heap of us are going ice-skating. Even Steve Austin's going. Trish said you'd want to come."  
  
"Do you want to talk to Bill?" She asked.  
  
"Is he around?" Nash asked innocently.  
  
"Honey, door!" Lita called to him.  
  
"Who is it?" Bill called.  
  
"Kevin." She answered, moving towards the bathroom and closing the door.  
  
"What's going on?" Bill asked.  
  
"I think you've just been conned." Nash told him. "Trish has organized some of us to go ice skating."  
  
"So how do I tell Lita I can't ice skate?" Bill asked his friend.  
  
The two were still deep in conversation when Lita walked out of the bathroom, only wearing a fluffy white towel, which came down almost to her knees.  
  
"Oh, uh. Sorry." Nash apologized for the second time that morning.  
  
"I thought I'd been in the shower for ages." Lita told them. "I didn't know you were still here."  
  
"I can just go." Kevin said, trying his best not to look at her.  
  
"Don't worry about it. Just let me get some clothes, I'll change in the bathroom."  
  
"Are you sure?" Nash asked. "I could go. Really it's no problem."  
  
"No stay, whatever." She replied, pulling a few articles of clothing out of her suitcase, turning back to the pair before she walked into the bathroom. "It's not like this is my hotel room." With those words she closed the bathroom door.  
  
"Maybe we should go." Kevin said nervously.  
  
"She was joking." Goldberg reassured his friend.  
  
"He's right." Lita told the taller man, walking out of the bathroom still drying her hair with a towel. "I'm sarcastic. More often than not my mouth just runs away with me." She shrugged her shoulders and kissed Bill, letting her hair fall around her face in damp tendrils.  
  
"I should get going." Bill told her. "If we're going ice skating I should probably shower and change myself."  
  
Mmm, okay." She nodded. "I'm going to head over and see Trish. Meet you downstairs for breakfast?"  
  
"Say thirty minutes?" He asked, glancing at the digital alarm clock.  
  
"See you then." Lita reached up and kissed him on the mouth before she walked out the door.  
  
"I'll shut the door on my way out, then, will I?" Bill called after her retreating form.  
  
As she walked she turned and blew him a kiss.  
  
Nash, standing next to him, clapped Goldberg on the shoulder. "I'm guessing you had a good night then."  
  
Lita rapped heavily on Trish's hotel room door. "Trish, you in there?"  
  
"Yeah," The voice came from within. The door opened, revealing the blonde, Canadian diva. "Come on in."  
  
"Thanks." Lita shut the door behind her. "Hey Stace." She greeted the other woman.  
  
"How was last night?" Trish asked, a sly grin on her face.  
  
"It was very nice. Thanks for spilling all the secrets on my favorite places in New York." Lita answered. "We had a really nice night."  
  
"So what did you do?" Stacy asked.  
  
"He took me to Leonardo's, which is my favorite restaurant, and then we drove to Central Park and just walked around for a while. He's a very sweet guy. We talked mostly."  
  
"And?" Trish pressed.  
  
"We were talking about Steve sending out a search party out for me, and heading back to the hotel because it was pretty cold. For some reason I decided to race him back to the car." Lita chuckled at the memory.  
  
"You didn't fall over did you?" Stacy asked.  
  
"No, I didn't fall over." Lita promised. "I ran into the car. Literally, I bounced off it."  
  
The three women all began laughing. "Oh my God! What did he say?" Trish asked.  
  
"Bill was more worried I'd hurt myself than anything else, He caught me before I hit the ground. Then we both laughed. He even checked to see if I'd dented the car."  
  
"That's a bit cruel." Stacy interrupted.  
  
"He just didn't want to have to explain how his car got dented. I mean what could he have said? 'My car got hit by Lita?'"  
  
That sent the three women back into peals of laughter, until they flopped down, all laughed out, Trish and Lita on the bed, Stacy on the chair.  
  
"Trish?" Lita asked.  
  
"Mmm." Trish mumbled.  
  
"Will you do my hair for me?"  
  
By the time Goldberg arrived in the dining room, Trish, Lita and Stacy had already been joined by Scott Steiner and Shawn Michaels.  
  
"Hey." Lita greeted him as he sat down next to her. "Did you want coffee?"  
  
"Uh, yeah." He nodded.  
  
"Here." She slid a cup in front of him. "You like just normal coffee right?"  
  
"Whatever." He sat down kissing her on the mouth.  
  
"It looks like you two had a good night." Shawn observed.  
  
"Maybe we should get JR and the King to make an announcement?" Lita laughed, using her hands to create an imaginary banner, "Bill and Lita had a good night."  
  
Everyone began to laugh.  
  
"How is it you can do that?" Stacy asked Lita.  
  
"Do what?" The brunette asked.  
  
"Make everyone laugh."  
  
She paused for a moment, as though deep in thought. "I have no idea. People just like to laugh when I talk. You know, sometimes I'm not even sure if I should be offended."  
  
"Would you like to order now?" They were interrupted by a waitress.  
  
"Uh, yeah." Shawn nodded, as everyone hurriedly decided on what they wanted.  
  
*****************  
  
"So this is the ice skating rink." Shawn said, turning to face them all. "It's large, and cold."  
  
"What do we do now?" Stacy asked.  
  
"You guys should go and hire some skates." Lita told them. "Trish and I have our own."  
  
"You must do this a lot." Steve said to the pair. "To own your own skates."  
  
"We've ice skated in every... Is it every state capital now Li?" Trish asked.  
  
"Every state capital." Lita confirmed. "As well as in Ontario, Ottawa, Toronto, and a couple of other cities in Canada."  
  
"Is this a bad time to tell you that I've never ice skated before?" Bill asked her.  
  
"Can you roller blade?" Lita asked him.  
  
"Yeah, but..."  
  
"The principles are the same, you just have to make sure that if you fall over you land with your fists closed." Lita told them. "Like this." She clenched her fists and held them up so that the others could see.  
  
"Dare I ask why?" Stacy said.  
  
"You'll cut your hands open if you don't, ice skates have sharp blades." Trish answered. "Lita's got some really good scars out of it."  
  
"You got a better one when you split your chin open." Lita shot back, but there was no malice in her words.  
  
Finally everyone made to the edge of the rink, some of the superstars like Rob Van Dam, the Hurricane, Tommy Dreamer, Booker T and Scott Steiner already on the ice, skating fairly well.  
  
"Come on." Lita encouraged Goldberg. "You're doing great." She skated backwards, for a few circuits, holding his hands, guiding him along as she went. "That's it, you're fine."  
  
Bill threw his arms up in the air, "I can ice skate!" As he did so, he realized Lita was no longer holding on to him.  
  
"Li, come over here." Trish called.  
  
"Will you be okay?" She asked Bill. He nodded, watching as she skated off, her balance natural and graceful.  
  
At around lunchtime Lita and Trish began performing fairly simple tricks, trying to out-do one another, first with easy things, with the tricks getting harder and harder, faster and faster, spins, leaps, even speed skating.  
  
"Bet you can't reach the edge before me." Trish teased her friend.  
  
"Usual prize pool?" Lita asked.  
  
Trish nodded.  
  
"You're on." A mischievious smile crossed Lita's face.  
  
"Will someone mark us?" Trish called.  
  
"On your marks!" Steve called. "Get set, GO!"  
  
At the word 'GO', both divas began skating furiously towards the edge of the rink, with Lita beating Trish every step of the way. Three quarters of the way there, Lita dropped to the ice, like she was kicking out at something, skidding along the ice on her side. Everyone watched in silence as her momentum propelled her across the ice, her feet hitting the wall at the edge of the rink.  
  
Trish skated over to her immediately, all thoughts of the race vanished, while the others skated over. By the time they halted by Lita's side the brunette still hadn't gotten up.  
  
With shaking hands Bill, Austin and Steiner turned her onto her back only to realise that she hadn't moved, not because she was hurt, but because she was laughing so hard.  
  
"Lita?" Stone Cold asked. "Are you hurt anywhere?"  
  
The question seemed to shock Lita out of her laughter. "Hurt? No way, but you have got to try that!"  
  
"You're insane!" Trish said shaking her head at her friend.  
  
"Yeah, but that's one of the reasons you love me." Lita teased them, while Bill and Scott helped her to her feet. "I think I need to change."  
  
"Probably wouldn't be a bad idea." Trish agreed, looking down at Lita's sodden clothing.  
  
"We should get you back to the hotel." Steve told her.  
  
"I did bring a change of clothes with me." She answered, moving away from the others to stretch her limbs out. "Something like this happens every time we go skating."  
  
"Are you sure you're all right?" Shawn asked.  
  
"Mmm." She mumbled, balancing on one skate, while she pulled her other leg up behind her, stretching all of the muscles. As she pulled her foot up behind her, level with her shoulder, she winced, over balancing, and collapsing into Tommy, Rob and the Hurricane knocking the three of them to the ice.  
  
From her position on the ice, sprawled across Rob and Tommy, Lita looked up at the others. "Whoops."  
  
"You did hurt yourself didn't you?" Goldberg reached out and helped her gently to her feet, placing one hand under her thigh to keep weight off her left leg.  
  
"It can't be anything serious. I didn't ever feel it until I stretched." She placated him.  
  
"Don't be silly, you have to see one of the doctors."  
  
"He's right." Austin said firmly. "You need to get it checked out."  
  
"It's probably just bruised from last night." Lita insisted.  
  
"Do we even want to know?" RVD asked, helping the Hurricane to his feet.  
  
"I ran into a car." She snapped, wincing as she twisted her upper body to look at him. "It didn't hurt then."  
  
"Come on Li." Trish skated to her other side, pulling Lita's arm around her neck. "Let's get you checked out."  
  
"How did you run into a car?" Steve demanded.  
  
"You know how you run, just because you can, and it's fun, and then you kinda forget to stop. Yeah I did that, right into a car."  
  
"My car actually." Bill chuckled. "She hit it so hard I thought she'd dented it."  
  
Lita shoved him in the side. "Thank you very much." She told him.  
  
At the edge of the rink, in the seating area, Bill and Trish lowered her down onto a bench, and set about removing their skates. "You should stay." Lita protested. "I can take a taxi back to the hotel. I'll get my hip looked at, then rest up for a bit. We can all meet up for dinner."  
  
"We couldn't let you go alone." Trish told her. "Besides I know what you're like. You'll go back to the hotel, wiggle yourself into the elevator, take a couple of Brufren, or Tylenol, and sleep for a while."  
  
"Will not. I don't take Tylenol." She retorted, rolling her eyes. "And I'm still expecting you to pay up." Lita told the blonde.  
  
"What's the prize pool?" Rob asked.  
  
"A gallon of cookie dough fudge caramel swirl chip." Trish told her. "The ultimate prize."  
  
"You do crazy stuff like that for ice cream?" Shawn asked.  
  
"Sure. I'm a sugar addict." Lita told him, leaning down to unlace her second skate. "Jeff used to buy me a Hostess cupcake every time I jumped off a ladder, or the ropes, or a table. I used to be scared to do it."  
  
Steve stared at her. "You're joking."  
  
"Doesn't anyone else have incentives to perform well?" She asked. "I used to love it, we'd head out to a bar or something after the show, but on the way we'd stop off at a supermarket or somewhere and get my junk food."  
  
"Every time Scott wins, I get a manicure." Stacy suggested.  
  
"Something like that." Lita told her. "Look you should all just get out on the ice and have some more fun. I'll be fine. I'll even go and get it checked, I promise."  
  
"You hate hospitals, you hate doctors." Trish reminded her.  
  
"So would you if you'd spent the amount of time in hospital I have." Lita told her, unashamed at being caught out. Without a word Goldberg picked her up and carried her out to the car.  
  
A/N: There we have it, yet another chapter of A Place To Call Home.  
  
Drop me a line and tell me what you think about it.  
  
Samantha. 


	7. Monopoly?

Part 7.  
  
As Steve entered the room, he heard Lita screaming. "Didn't I just tell you that hurt!"  
  
"Lita, calm down. He's just trying to check." Trish's voice sounded.  
  
"I don't care." The brunette shrilled. "He's hurting me."  
  
"I'm sure he's just doing his job." Goldberg told her.  
  
"Is that job rearranging my hip for me?"  
  
"Lita." Steve began. "Calm yourself down."  
  
"Okay Lita." The doctor said to her. "I'm going to rotate your hip in a circle. I'll try to be gentle, but I think it's going to hurt, so just try and relax."  
  
"I'm gonna hurt you, relax." Lita muttered. "Great bedside manner this one's got."  
  
The doctor ignored her. "You might need to hang on to her."  
  
Trish reached out to hold her hand, while Steve and Bill held her arms and shoulders down. "Just squeeze my hand when it hurts Li." Trish reassured her friend. "Just like physio."  
  
Lita nodded, bracing herself for the pain. As the doctor moved her leg she gritted her teeth, not moving, not screaming as the pain grew into a fireball that threatened to consume her. Tears appeared in the corners of her tightly closed eyes, but she made no sound, didn't move at all.  
  
The four people in the room watched in amazement as the brunette lay perfectly still while her hip was rotated, though it was obvious that she was in pain.  
  
"Lita? Honey? It's Trish, can you hear me?"  
  
"Just fine." She opened her eyes, blinking a little in the light. "Are we done here?"  
  
"I think so." The doctor told her. "It's just a muscle strain, but we needed to check for any bone chips and ligament damage."  
  
"So I'm not damaged goods then?" Lita asked.  
  
"No you'll be just fine." The doctor said. "We'll schedule a massage for you tomorrow, but alternate hot and cold packs as you need them, and you can use something like Voltaren or Deep Heat for muscle pain."  
  
She nodded. "Got it."  
  
"You'll have to stay off your feet for the rest of today though, no unnecessary movement for those muscles. Give them a chance to heal."  
  
Lita rolled her eyes.  
  
"We'll get you up to bed then." Trish told her friend as Bill picked Lita up.  
  
******  
  
"I'm bored." Lita said flatly, looking up at the pair from the bed.  
  
"You've been sitting there for two minutes." Trish told her.  
  
"Why don't we watch some TV, or rent a movie, or something?" Bill asked her.  
  
"I think I've still got monopoly in the bottom of my suitcase." Trish suggested.  
  
"Okay." She conceded.  
  
"I'll just go get it." The Canadian blonde left the room.  
  
"Monopoly?" Bill asked her.  
  
"We used to play it all of the time, we'd keep running sheets of who owned what, how much money we had, and we'd play one game for six months, getting it out whenever we had time. It's my favorite board game."  
  
He laughed.  
  
"No pun intended." She told him, rolling her eyes.  
  
Trish reappeared with the box in her hands. "Hey guys, I found a couple more players." Shawn, Scott, Stacy and RVD followed her into the room.  
  
"How's the hip?" Shawn asked sympathetically.  
  
"Bloody painful." Lita told him.  
  
"Do you want some Tylenol?" Stacy asked.  
  
"I'd love some." Lita told her. "But I probably shouldn't. It makes me too drowsy."  
  
"Okay, so who's playing which piece?" Trish asked, trying to take Lita's mind off the pain in her leg.  
  
"Bags the shoe." Lita told everyone.  
  
"The shoe?" Rob asked. "That's not a cool piece."  
  
"It's my piece, you wanna wrestle me for it?" Lita challenged him.  
  
"Settle down." Trish admonished her.  
  
"I'll have the uh, the ship." Shawn said.  
  
"I'll take the horse." Stacy said.  
  
"Car me." RVD grinned.  
  
"I'll be the wheel." Goldberg said enthusiastically, snatching the piece out of the box. "What?" He looked at the others. "Is Lita the only one allowed to have a lucky piece?"  
  
"I'm the thimble." Trish swiped the piece before anyone else could grab it.  
  
"I'll be the dog." Scott told them.  
  
"Aren't you supposed to be resting?" Austin walked in to the room, dropping a slab of beer on the chair.  
  
"I'm lying down, and I'm taking it easy too." Lita told him, her eyes wide and innocent.  
  
"Do you need a banker?" Steve asked, his fierce demeanor melting away.  
  
"To borrow a phrase, 'Hell yeah'." Trish told him, while the others laughed.  
  
"Hey, what are we all doing?" Tommy Dreamer, Booker T and the Hurricane walked in plonking themselves down wherever they fitted. "Monopoly." Trish told them. "Wanna play?"  
  
"Trish we used up all of the pieces." Rob told her.  
  
"No problem." Lita said to him. "We can play in teams."  
  
In a few moments several teams had been formed, and the players were rolling the dice to see who would go first. "Six."  
  
"Nine."  
  
"Four."  
  
"Ten."  
  
"Twelve!" Stacy cheered, "Scott and I win, no one can roll higher than that."  
  
"I don't get it." RVD fumed. "How is it that you two only have six properties, only one set, and you're winning?" "It's all about what you know." Lita answered sweetly, taking the four hundred dollars he held out to her.  
  
"Come on Lita, it's your turn to roll." Trish told her.  
  
"Come on..." Lita began, shaking the dice. "Lita needs new... nothing really, but I want a good number."  
  
"This isn't craps." The Hurricane told her.  
  
"It make the game more interesting." She answered, moving her's and Bill's piece. "You play like that and this games more revealing than strip poker."  
  
"You've play strip poker?" Tommy asked her.  
  
"I have to be very drunk to play." She answered. "I haven't been very drunk in a long time."  
  
As Shawn took his turn, landing on Castlereagh Street, everyone cheered, knowing how much money he'd have to give to Bill and Lita.  
  
"What the hell is going on in here?" Eric Bischoff and the three members of Evolution appeared in the doorway.  
  
"We're playing Monopoly, what does it look like?" Steve fired back at his co-General Manager.  
  
"What kind of lame ass this to do is that?" Triple H asked.  
  
"Something that intellectuals do, because they find enjoyment in counting and money?" Lita suggested sarcastically. "Hey, we should have got Chris Jericho to play."  
  
"The King of Bling Bling." Shawn said, imitating Jericho's famous catch phrase.  
  
Trish laughed, while Bishoff and the others fumed.  
  
"Steve I've been looking for you all day. We need to discuss some of Monday night's matches."  
  
"Can we do it later?" Stone Cold asked. "I'm banker."  
  
"I'd prefer now." Eric insisted.  
  
"I preferred the other night, when we were sitting down, over a beer, discussing where we wanted to take the show." Steve answered.  
  
"Steve." His voice was firm when he spoke. "Eric." Steve repeated, using the same tone as Bischoff had used. Lita and Trish both buried their faces in the pillow they were resting on, to hide their giggles.  
  
"Ladies?" Bischoff fumed looking at them pointedly, "It there something the matter?" The short dark haired man snapped at them, unable to contain his fury at Steve Austin.  
  
"Yeah, actually." Lita told him, a grave look on her face. "I was wondering is that your natural hair color?"  
  
Self-consciously, Bischoff ran one of his hands over his hair. "Of course it's my natural color."  
  
"Oh." She said. "It just looks... I don't know, weird."  
  
"Look, Steve, we'll meet at five o'clock. The meeting shouldn't take any longer than half an hour." Eric left the room, still running his hands through his hair.  
  
"Score one Lita: zero Bischoff." RVD called, throwing his arms up in the air.  
  
"You thought that was funny?" Ric Flair asked. "Making fun of a man's hair color?"  
  
"Why, because you have no hair color? She asked. "My objective was to get rid of him. I achieved my objective." Lita told him. "Yay for me."  
  
"Whatever." Triple H said derisively, walking away.  
  
"This is 'The Game!'" Lita yelled after them, making Triple H halt in anger, then keep on walking.  
  
"How did you know that would get rid of Eric?" Steve asked her.  
  
"The man obviously dyes his hair." Lita told him.  
  
"How do you know?" Shawn asked.  
  
"Please!" Stacy replied. "Growth streaks, that scummy blackish-brown ring thing on his scalp every so often." She made a face.  
  
"All signs of our Mr. Bischoff dyeing his hair." Trish finished.  
  
"That might explain all of those hair brained ideas he has. They happen after the color's been left on too long." Scott mused, while everyone else laughed.  
  
Stone Cold Steve Austin said nothing. He just sat there looking like all of his Chrismases had come at once. 


	8. Monday Night RAW

A/N: I know it's kind of short, but it's a set up for future events, so just bear with me for a little while.  
  
Happy reading peeps (and thank god the Rock has come back to RAW, and I hope Lita and Trish kick Christian's and Jericho's asses for them.  
  
Part 8  
  
Monday night RAW rolled around, resulting in the superstars having a blast. Goldberg defended his World Heavy Weight Title for the second time, against Kane, spearing the man twice before the 'big red machine' would stay down and be pinned. Trish and Lita, who's hip was better, fought in a tag team match against Jazz and Victoria, which was interrupted when not only Stephen Richards, but Theodore Long, and Rodney Mack intervened, trying to take Trish and Lita apart, only to be taken out by Goldberg, Shawn Michaels and RVD.  
  
As promised Stone Cold organised a tribute segment for Lita on RAW, downplaying Matt Hardy as Trish had suggested, while Evolution had come down to ring side to taunt Lita and Steve, only to have Triple H kicked in the face by Lita, using what JR had called 'one of the best baseball slides he had ever seen.' The crowd had made Lita's night though, rising to their feet the instant her music was played over the loud speakers, cheering and chanting her name, fulfilling something in her that had felt empty for a very long time.  
  
"Having a good night?" Bill met her backstage, slipping his arm around her waist.  
  
"I'm having a great night." She answered, reaching up to kiss him passionately, threading both arms around his neck.  
  
"Are you two done?" A snide voice asked.  
  
Lita broke off the kiss, turned her face to look at the speaker. "Did you want something Hunter?"  
  
"Get a room."  
  
"Was that all?" Bill asked as Lita kissed his throat.  
  
"You know there are some things people just don't do in front of polite company." Hunter told them.  
  
"Is that supposed to mean that you are polite company, or you're not?" Lita asked. "Because I'm coming down on the side of you NOT being polite company."  
  
Triple H fumed.  
  
"Hunter, what do you want?" Bill asked him again.  
  
The other man snorted, and walked away without answering.  
  
"So what do you want to do tonight?" Bill asked her, moving his hands down to her waist and hips.  
  
"I won my match tonight, with a little help. I want to do what everyone in my position would want to do." She answered.  
  
"And that is?" He asked, teasing.  
  
She eyed him for a moment, a coy expression on her face, before leaning over to whisper in his ear.  
  
"Excuse me, Bill and Lita? Are we interrupting something?"  
  
"Hi Shawn." Lita turned and smiled.  
  
"What are you two doing tonight?" He asked.  
  
"Not the brightest question you've ever posed." Lita told him, rolling her eyes.  
  
"Hey all. Matches were good tonight weren't they?" RVD walked over to them, rolling his eyes as he saw that Lita and Bill were already wrapped around each other.  
  
"Yeah. It was nice to be thrown back in the thick of it." Lita told him.  
  
"Damn straight." Trish agreed, reaching out to bump fists with her best friend.  
  
"We got it goin' on." Lita told her.  
  
"Always."  
  
"Are you two coming out with the rest of us?" RVD asked.  
  
Lita rested her head on Bill's shoulder. "I think I'm gonna pass."  
  
"Still jet-lagged?" Trish asked sympathetically  
  
"And the rest of it. I'm gonna talk to Steve and see if I can fly to where RAW is next earlier. This day before stuff gets to me." Lita told her.  
  
"Have you tried air sickness tablets?" RVD asked.  
  
"No point. I don't get air sick, just jetlagged." She told him, then looked up at Goldberg. "I'm gonna head back to the hotel now, go out and have some fun."  
  
"Are you sure?" He asked. "I'll drive you back to the hotel first if you like, make sure you get there safely."  
  
"No, it's fine. I'll get a ride with Booker, he's heading back to take it easy too, worried about his back playing up again." Lita told him.  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"Have a nice time." She pronounced each word carefully, pausing after each for effect.  
  
"Take it easy." He leaned down to kiss her again.  
  
"I love you." She told him, before walking off to where Booker T stood waiting for her. 


	9. Locker rooms, dogs and swimming pools

A/N: Never intended anything to happen to Lita on the way to the hotel. Next part is served.  
  
Samantha.  
  
Part 9.  
  
"Hey Bill, what are you doing this week?" Shawn asked, standing in Bill's locker room.  
  
"Lita and I are flying up to North Carolina for the week."  
  
"Sounds like fun." Shawn told him.  
  
"Fun?" Bill asked. "I'm packing it. We're staying with Jeff Hardy, which means that I have to meet the guy. What if he doesn't like me, or we don't get along?"  
  
"It'll be fine." Shawn tried to reassure him.  
  
"It's one of the biggest things I'll ever do with her. Shawn, this guy is one of the most important people in her life. They're practically brother and sister."  
  
"At least you aren't meeting her parents." Shawn told him. "That's an upside right?"  
  
"I'm meeting them next weekend. We're going out for lunch, taking her parents and mine."  
  
Shawn smiled. "Just don't sit there and tell them you want to violate their daughter. You'll be fine, same with Jeff." He advised.  
  
"Hey." Lita walked into the locker room and move to kiss Bill. "Ready to go?"  
  
"Yeah, uh, almost." He answered, shoving the last of his stuff into his sports bag and struggling a little with the zipper.  
  
"Are you looking forward to going?" She asked.  
  
"What if Jeff doesn't like me?" Bill asked her unexpectedly.  
  
"Who says Jeff won't like you?" She asked.  
  
"No one, just... What if he doesn't?"  
  
"Listen to me." She turned his head to face her, placing both hands on his shoulders. "You and Jeff will get along great because you're both great guys. He's the most laid back person you will ever meet, and I know he'll like you, and you'll both get along. I wouldn't have asked you to come with me if I wasn't sure." She turned to look at Shawn Michaels. "Tell him that Jeff is a great guy, and they'll get along fine."  
  
Shawn smiled. "She's right man. Jeff's a good guy, just remember not to say, 'I want to violate and corrupt your sister.'"  
  
Lita began to laugh, holding her ribs as she threw herself down on one of the benches. "Say that to him and I'll bet he dies of laughter."  
  
**********  
  
"Here we are." She smiled at him. "North Carolina. I love it here. It's so gorgeous, just lakes, trees and open spaces."  
  
"As long as we can see some of those things, I'll leave North Carolina a happy man." Bill told her.  
  
"Come on, we'd better see if we can find Jeff, and if he's not here I'll kill him." Lita growled, looking around the room for familiar incredibly colorful hair.  
  
"Is that him?" Bill asked, gesturing towards a guy with bubblegum blue, green and purple colored hair. Lita flashed him a huge smile. "That's him." She lifted one of her hands and waved, seeing Lita, he waved back and weaved his way over to them.  
  
"Hey gorgeous, you look great, who did your hair?" He asked hugging her around the waist and lifting her off the ground.  
  
"A salon colorist." She told him. "How are you?"  
  
"Pretty good." He extended his hand to Bill. "You must be the new boyfriend I've heard so much about. I'm Jeff Hardy."  
  
"Bill Goldberg, it's nice to meet you."  
  
"You're the World Heavyweight Champion, right?" Jeff asked. "That is cool."  
  
"It's definitely got some perks." Bill agreed.  
  
"That is so sweet." Lita told them. "Now get moving Hardy, I want to get back into this gorgeous state." "Oh, before I forget, Bill do you mind dogs? Because I've got my dog in the car, Lulu too Li. I got your parents to send her down."  
  
"No, I'm okay with dogs." Bill told him.  
  
"Great, so let's get your stuff and get the hell outta here." Jeff made this weird move with his hands, that Lita laughed at, shoving him gently and ruffling his hair. "Since when did you become psychotic? Or did the hair coloring finally seep down into those other brain cells?"  
  
"Watch it, babe. I'm the one who's driving home." He answered. "Now come on."  
  
"I borrowed dad's 4x4 to come get you both. I figured with luggage, and dogs, it'd be better than my 'Vette." Jeff told them, dumping one of Lita's bags onto the ground before opening the back up.  
  
Bill smiled as a black and gray spaniel hurled itself at Lita, while an oversized Rotteweiler wagged it's stumpy tail vigorously. "Bill this is my dog Lulu," She held up the spaniel so that he could pat her. "And this is Jeff's dog Picasso."  
  
"They're both great."  
  
"I'm glad you think so." Lita told him, placing Lulu in his arms and bending down to hug Picasso.  
  
"She's right." Jeff agreed. "We're both very protective of these canines of ours."  
  
*********  
  
"This is my place." Jeff told Bill as he pulled into the driveway. "My dad lives over there, just a couple of houses down the road, so we stay pretty close knit."  
  
"I can't wait to just get inside and sleep." Lita moaned, half asleep.  
  
"Girl, you're hopeless." Jeff told her. "Every time she gets on a plane she ends up with jet lag." He told Bill.  
  
"Don't make me get bitchy with you." She warned Jeff.  
  
"All right, go on in and head upstairs, you know where your room is." Jeff told her, passing her a set of keys. "And leave the front door open!" He called after her.  
  
"It must have been pretty hard for you to watch her break up with your brother." Bill observed as they were unloading the car.  
  
"Not really." Jeff told him. "Matt can be a world's champion ass when he wants to be. Even I've smacked him over the head a few times. Once with a ladder." He chuckled. "That was a lot of good, violent fun."  
  
*********  
  
"Where should I put my stuff?" Bill asked, feeling a little awkward.  
  
"I figured you'd be staying in with Li, but if you want a separate room..." Jeff told him.  
  
"That's fine." Bill told him. "I feel like I'm walking on eggshells actually. I don't want to say anything that will piss you off."  
  
"I don't get pissed off." Jeff told him. "I get even. Just ask Lita. Speaking of pissed off, we'll leave all of this down here, so we don't wake sleeping beauty, cos she'll get really pissed off if that happens."  
  
"Sounds good..." He stifled a yawn.  
  
"Looks like you could use a few hours of sleep yourself." Jeff told him. "Head upstairs, second door on the right. Lita should be in there already."  
  
It was almost dusk when the pair woke up. Sleepily Lita led Bill downstairs, where in the kitchen they were greeted by a group of people.  
  
"I hope you don't mind Li, but I thought we'd have a few people over for dinner." Jeff told her.  
  
"This looks like half the roster." She answered.  
  
"I don't know, but most of then live somewhere near here, or are staying around here."  
  
"Lita, angelita!" A pair of arms was wrapped around her waist, the owner of them kissing both of her cheeks before setting her back onto the ground. "Hello Rey." She hugged him back.  
  
"Do you know how good it is to see your smiling face?" He asked.  
  
"About as good as it is to see all of your faces." Lita told him.  
  
"Damn straight." Shannon told her. "We missed you."  
  
"For the record, I didn't." A voice called out. "I only saw you a few hours ago."  
  
"Hurricane?" Bill asked.  
  
"Goldberg, a pleasure to meet a champion such as yourself." Shane fell into character at once.  
  
"Goldberg?" Rey turned away from whatever he was cutting up on the bench.  
  
"Guys, meet my boyfriend, Bill Goldberg." Lita told them.  
  
"It's nice to meet you all." Bill offered.  
  
"Dude, you're a champion, the champion, World Heavyweight Champion in Jeff Hardy's house." Rey Mysterio babbled.  
  
"What are you doing here?" John Cena asked.  
  
"I asked him to come and meet some of my friends, my little brother especially." Lita told him, a note of something in her voice that controlled him.  
  
"Word was that Lita had a new boyfriend." Shannon told her. "I just thought it was a load of crap. Nice to meet you, I'm Shannon." He offered Bill his hand. "Just know that if you hurt our girl, we'll hunt you down and beat the crap out of you."  
  
"Hey, that's my line." Jeff protested.  
  
"What is it with overprotective men in my life?" Lita asked them all. "First Steve, now you guys? If anyone want to piss me off, I'm sure I can hit them without breaking a nail, or my neck." She snapped at them, stalking out of the room.  
  
"We've all been pretty protective of her at work." Bill told them. "And she was pissed when Austin read me the riot act."  
  
"How has she been?" Shannon asked.  
  
"I'm told she's been pretty normal. Picking fights with people, playing pranks."  
  
"Who was she picking fights with?" Jeff asked.  
  
"First it was Molly Holly and Gail Kim. Then it was Triple H and Evolution, but she picks a fight with Bischoff at every opportunity."  
  
Jeff smiled. "Sounds pretty normal for Lita. Is she still tight with Trish and Stacy?"  
  
"Yeah, especially Trish. But she's good friends with the Dudleyz, and RVD, Tommy Dreamer."  
  
"Ah, ECW days." Jeff sighed.  
  
As he finished speaking, Lita stomped back inside, walking upstairs without talking to anyone.  
  
As they all looked at each other in surprise, she walked back downstairs, wearing a purple and silver swirl bikini, a towel slung over one arm.  
  
"Nice suit!" Shannon called out, just to piss her off.  
  
"Man, one day she's gonna get you good." Jeff told him. "I just hope I'm there when she does."  
  
"Lita, what are you doing in there?" Shannon asked, looking down at her in the pool.  
  
"Taking a swim, genius." She answered, rolling over to float on her back.  
  
"Isn't it cold in there?" Torrie asked.  
  
"No, it's nice." Lita answered, disappearing underwater.  
  
When she resurfaced, Jeff was standing on the poolside. "Come out and get some food." He told her, leaning over the edge, offering a hand to help her out.  
  
In a split second she reached out to take his hand, then dragged him into the pool.  
  
Jeff surfaced spluttering and choking. "You'll get yours."  
  
"You don't believe in revenge." Lita reminded him, her expression suddenly playful.  
  
"I'm making an exception!" He called, splashing water at her.  
  
She squealed with laughter and splashed him back.  
  
"Come on you two." Rey told them, "Get out and dry off."  
  
Lita responded by swimming to the edge of the pool, springing up from the bottom, using her upper body strength to pull herself up high enough out of the water to sit on the edge, water streaming down her face, hair, conforming to the hills and planes of her body, the flimsy bikini covering only a minute amount of her flawless, creamy skin.  
  
"Can I have my towel please?" She asked innocently.  
  
Averting his eyes from her barely clothed form, Rey handed her the towel, trying to stay away from her so that he wouldn't get wet. She held out her hand for it, waiting for him to come close enough, then took it from him, clutching his wrist, and pulling him over her head, into the pool.  
  
As he surfaced, Lita stayed sitting on the edge of the pool, laughing. "You know Rey, I really think you should stop telling me what to do." 


	10. Elka, and lunch with the PARENTS

Part 10.  
  
"So who's meeting us here?" Bill asked.  
  
"I don't know." Lita answered. "But my mom promised that someone would be here." She looked around, lugging her over-sized backpack behind her.  
  
"Amy!" A voice called out from behind them.  
  
At once Lita spun around, and was wrapped up in a huge hug by a younger woman.  
  
"I missed you." Lita told her, letting go and pushing the younger woman away to get a good look at her. "You'r so grown up now."  
  
"I am eighteen." She answered, rolling her eyes. "And I see you left my birthday present behind."  
  
"No, I've got it here." Lita told her.  
  
"I meant Shawn Michaels." The younger woman arched her eyebrows.  
  
"Bill, meet my little sister Elka. Elka, my boyfriend Bill."  
  
"Bill Goldberg?" Elka's eyes widened, then she shrugged. "I guess you'll do."  
  
"Elka!" Lita admonished her.  
  
"I was just joking." She answered. "It's nice to meet you."  
  
"Like wise." He replied.  
  
"I brought mom's car with me, so there's heaps of room for you and all of your stuff." Elka told them. "We'd better go and find the rest of your luggage so that we can beat traffic."  
  
As they drove to Lita's place, the three chatted.  
  
"I didn't know you had a sister." Bill told Lita.  
  
"I'm adopted." Elka told him. "Mom, dad and Amy adopted me when I was just a baby."  
  
"That explains why the two of you look nothing alike." He said out loud.  
  
"Have you been to Miami before?" Elka asked Bill, as they stopped at a set of traffic lights.  
  
"I live here." He answered with a smile.  
  
"So I needn't bother with the scenic route then?" Elka asked.  
  
"So this is your place." Bill said to Lita as he dragged her suitcase in from the car. "It's great."  
  
They were greeted by the sound of barking and pattering paws. "Hey Lulu." Lita bent down to pick the grey and black spaniel up and cuddle her. She turned to Bill with the dog still wrapped up in her arms.  
  
"You know what I really want?"  
  
"About four hours of solid sleep?" He asked with a grin.  
  
"You know me too well."  
  
At the restaurant Bill and Lita had chosen, they sat nervously, each worried at the prospect of meeting the other's parents.  
  
As they sat there, both sets of parents made their way over to the table, Lita's parents with Elka in tow.  
  
"Hello darling." Lita's father bent down to kiss her.  
  
She reached up to hug him, then stood. "I guess we should make some introductions, then." Lita said simply.  
  
"Mom and dad, this is Lita." Bill began.  
  
"I'm William senior." Bill's father began, "This is my wife Alexis."  
  
"It's nice to meet you both." Lita told them, shaking their hands, and then turning to her own parents. "Mama, dad, this is Bill."  
  
Her father extended his hand to Bill. "Antoine Dumas, it's a pleasure to meet you."  
  
"Alejandra Dumas." Mrs. Dumas introduced herself. "This is our younger daughter Elka."  
  
"You both have lovely names." Alexis told them, "All three of you do in fact."  
  
"Lita isn't my real name." Lita told her as they sat down. "It's just a nickname. No one calls me Amy anymore."  
  
"Amy is lovely too." Alexis told her.  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"Have we ordered yet?" Elka asked.  
  
"We waited for everyone else to get here." Lita told her, chiding her younger sister gently.  
  
"So what do you do Lita?" Alexis asked.  
  
"I'm a wrestler."  
  
"Do you enjoy it?" William asked her. "Bill does."  
  
"It's my job, of course I enjoy it. If I didn't I wouldn't do it." Lita told them.  
  
"It's good that you've got a job you like." Alexis told her. "How long have you been in the business?"  
  
"A pretty long time now. I don't remember exactly, I've worked for too many different companies."  
  
"Amy was out for fifteen months with a neck injury." Alejandra told them.  
  
"What did you do?" William asked.  
  
"Broke it." She replied simply.  
  
"You broke your neck?" Alexis stared at her.  
  
"It's fine now. I'm even competing again."  
  
"But still, a broken neck. Doesn't that make you worried about competing again?" William asked.  
  
"Before I was allowed to make my comeback I had every kind of test and scan done on my neck to make sure it had healed properly. I'm fine, if I wasn't, there's no way that the administration would let me get in the ring." Lita told him.  
  
"But they let people wrestle with pulled hamstrings or torn quadriceps." He argued.  
  
"Dad, people aren't always as badly injured as we play up to be." Bill told him.  
  
"Like Test, I couldn't believe what he did to Scott Steiner, making everyone believe he'd done his knee, then cheating that match." Elka fumed. "He's a jerk."  
  
"He's a heel at the moment, despite being a jerk on the best of days, that was actually scripted." Lita told her younger sister.  
  
"He's still a jerk." 


	11. Not I

Part 11.  
  
The next week, RAW was held in Little Rock, Arkansas, with Stone Cold Steve Austin declaring that service men and women who held current military identification would be allowed into the arena free of charge.  
  
In the locker rooms Lita wandered around for a while, trying to get a 'feel' for the arena, something Trish knew she loved doing.  
  
As she walked down one of the halls, trying to get back to her own locker room, where Trish would be waiting for her, Lita was stopped by La Resistance.  
  
"Excuse me, can you tell us where we are?" Sylvan asked her, in his heavily accented English.  
  
"Oui." Lita answered him, changing easily to French. "Je m'appelle Lita." She told them.  
  
"It is very nice to meet you." Rene told her, "And lovely to hear such beautiful French."  
  
She smiled, good naturedly. "Just follow the corridor down and take the first turn on your left." Lita told them in English. "That should bring you out near your locker room.  
  
"Thank you very much." Sylvan began, "Perhaps we could buy you a drink? No?"  
  
"No thank you." She told them politely. "But thank you for the offer."  
  
"No, I think you need to come and have a drink." Rene took hold of her arm.  
  
"She said 'no.'" Another voice spoke.  
  
"In this country, that means you leave the lady alone." Shawn Michaels told Sylvan and Rene.  
  
"I spit on your country." Rene told him acidly.  
  
"Get lost." Kevin told the two men, "And don't come near Lita again."  
  
At his urging, both the Frenchmen scat, darting away before any harm could befall them.  
  
"Thank you." Lita told them both.  
  
"You're welcome." Shawn told her. "We'll walk you back to your locker room."  
  
"You must think I can't take care of myself." She said as they walked.  
  
"You shouldn't have to." Kevin told her. "Saying 'no' should be enough."  
  
"It never is." Lita told them.  
  
Trish met them at the door of their locker room. "I was getting worried about you." She told Lita, hugging the brunette.  
  
"I was just taking a walk." Lita promised her.  
  
"You were gone for so long though."  
  
"Trish asked us if we'd seen you." Kevin explained. "We said we'd keep an eye out."  
  
"Did something happen?" Trish asked, looking up at the three people standing in front of her.  
  
"I almost got into a 'spot of trouble'." Lita confessed.  
  
"The crazy little French bastards don't understand the meaning of the word no." Kevin growled. "What happened?" Bill appeared behind them, moving instantly to Lita's side.  
  
"They just wanted me to have a drink with them." Lita reassured him. "I'm fine."  
  
"We got there before they could make her go anywhere." Shawn promised.  
  
"Are you sure they didn't hurt you?" Bill asked her.  
  
"I'm totally fine." She told him.  
  
After the first matched was over, the Hurricane and Rosey versus La Resistance, with the Hurricane and Rosey winning the match, Lita, Trish, Bill, Shawn and Kevin sat, or stood in the co-GM's office.  
  
"Why are we all here?" Shawn asked.  
  
"Shut up." Bischoff snapped at him.  
  
"With pleasure." He muttered sarcastically.  
  
"You're all here because..." Steve began, realizing that half the superstars were staring at the Wide Screen television, the other half staring at Lita, the expression on her face completely unreadable.  
  
The screen was dark, though several of the lighting fixtures in the arena were still on.  
  
"Turn it up." Steve barked at Bischoff.  
  
With the volume turned up, they all heard the last notes of the Hardy Boys theme, while the lights went back on in the arena, Matt Hardy standing in the ring.  
  
"Now I know that I'm not a RAW superstar." Matt began, "But since what I have to say concerns one of the RAW superstars, I'm here. Any one like to guess who I'm here to talk about?"  
  
The crowd remained eerily silent as he spoke.  
  
"That's right, Lita." Matt continued. "Now, it's not new that Lita and I broke up, and it's not new that I'm talking about it. What's new is what I have to say. Apparently, the buzz in the WWE is that she's seeing another superstar, a RAW superstar, by the name of Bill Goldberg.  
  
Poor guy, putting up with her. Just wanted to tell him, I feel really bad that you ended up being the re-bound guy, and I also wanted to tell everyone exactly why Lita and I broke up, and it wasn't because of her injury either. We broke up because emotionally she can't support a long term relationship. Lita might look like a beautiful woman and she might seem like a team player, but she just can't deal with being part of a team. She thought she was going to wash up, so she washed her hands of everything that reminded her of the wrestling world, even me. I know I don't want that girlfriend back. Especially not when she's sleeping around."  
  
As he finished speaking the crowd began to boo him, chanting their favourite catchlines, 'Asshole', and 'You Suck'.  
  
"What the hell is Matt Hardy doing here?" Bischoff asked, though no one answered. "He can't be here."  
  
Beside Lita, Trish moved to get up, fuming. "I'm going to fix that sorry son of a..."  
  
"Sit down." Lita told her. "All of you, sit down, and stay out of this."  
  
"You just going to let him rubbish you in front of everyone?" Shawn asked her.  
  
"I have too." She answered. "I'm not the bad guy in our relationship, but he's been copping all of the hard press. It's always pissed him off."  
  
"I'm gonna Spear that son of a bitch into the steps if I can." Goldberg fumed.  
  
"You won't do anything." Lita told him, "Except stay here."  
  
She stood for a moment, staring at the screen, where the crowd was chanting 'Lita, Lita.'  
  
"Can I have about five minutes with him." Lita asked Steve. "He wants to rubbish me in front of god knows how many people, I'll talk to him in front of them."  
  
"What are you going to say?" Trish asked her.  
  
"Not much I hope. The truth if I can stomach it." Lita told her. "But I'm gonna do something I don't normally do in public, and before you ask, I'm not going to cry, I hope."  
  
With those words she left the room, walking up the back, and taking a microphone from one of the sound technicians.  
  
No music played as she walked out onto the causeway leading down to the ring. The crowd went wild when they saw her, while Matt started.  
  
She waited until the crowd had quieted before she began to speak. "I don't know why your here Matt, whether it's because you're jealous, or you still feel like you own me, but all you've done so far is lie."  
  
Slowly she began to pace along the top of the causeway, before stopping to look down at him. "I was waiting for an answer as to why you felt you needed to come here and lie, rubbishing me in front of so many people, but I guess I don't get one. So since you can't answer me, I'll answer you, and I'll give all of these people an insight into why we broke up." As she finished speaking, music began to play through the speaker system, the notes sad and almost haunting as Lita began to sing.  
  
"You mixed me up  
  
For someone who would fall apart without you  
  
Yeah you  
  
You broke me heart for the first time, but I'll get over that too  
  
It's hard to find the reasons  
  
Who can see the rhyme?  
  
I guess that we were seasons out of time  
  
I guess you didn't know me  
  
If you think love is blind  
  
That I wouldn't see the flaws between the lines  
  
Surprised  
  
That I caught you out on every single time  
  
That you lied  
  
Did you think that every time I'd see you I would cry?  
  
No, not me, not I  
  
No, not me, not I  
  
The story goes on without you  
  
There's got to be another ending  
  
But yeah you,  
  
You broke my heart,  
  
Won't be the last time  
  
But I'll get over the tears  
  
As a new door opens, we close the ones behind  
  
And if you search your soul I know you'll find  
  
You never really knew me  
  
If you think love is blind  
  
That I wouldn't see the flaws between the lines  
  
Surprise  
  
That I caught you out on every single time  
  
That you lied  
  
Did you think that every time I'd see you I would cry?  
  
No, not me, not I  
  
Not I, not I  
  
Not I.  
  
When you said to me  
  
Or you promised me  
  
All the mystery  
  
I never did believe  
  
No one ever cried  
  
No one ever lied Please, not I.  
  
If you think love is blind  
  
That I wouldn't see the flaws between the lines  
  
Surprise  
  
That I caught you out on every single time  
  
That you lied  
  
Did you think that every time I'd see you I would cry?  
  
No, not I  
  
I won't cry  
  
No not me, not I  
  
Not I, not I  
  
No not me, not I  
  
Not I."  
  
In the co-GM's office everyone was silent.  
  
"That was amazing." Kevin said quietly. "She has a beautiful voice."  
  
"She wasn't wrong." Trish said softly. "It's so hard to get her to sing in public, especially her own songs."  
  
"I don't understand." Shawn said as they watched Lita walk back down the causeway, and into back stage, cameras following her movements.  
  
"You're not meant too." Trish told him, getting up. "I'm going to check on her." She left the room, the others following close behind. 


	12. Going Under

A/N: Song in the last chapter was 'Not Me, Not I', by Delta Goodrem, song in this chapter is 'Going Under', by Evanescence. Thanks to everyone who reviews my stories, and with luck I'll get a couple more wrestling fics almost finished so that I can start posting them.  
  
Samantha.  
  
Part 12.  
  
As they spotted Lita, walking passively into her and Trish's locker room, Steve called out her name, but she ignored them, closing the door. In seconds the air was filled with music again, this time darker, more like what people would have expected from Lita.  
  
'Now I will tell you what I've done for you  
  
Fifty thousand tears I've cried  
  
Screaming, deceiving and bleeding for you  
  
And you still won't hear me.'  
  
"LITA!" Steve called out, banging on the door. "Open up."  
  
*******  
  
In the arena, music began pumping through the sound system, though no one knew where it was coming from. No superstars appeared at the top of the ramp, and sound technicians were running around try find the cause of the problem.  
  
"Take it easy folks." JR called into the audience. "It's not a glitch, we've just had word from backstage that this music is coming out of every speaker in the entire arena, and according to RAW co-GM Eric Bischoff, it started coming from the locker room of Trish Stratus and Lita."  
  
"This sounds a bit more like her kind of music." King announced, "Though she does have a beautiful singing voice, no doubt about that."  
  
"Well I think Matt Hardy is a low guy. A really low guy, fancy coming out on RAW and saying all of those things about Lita."  
  
"Yeah, and then for her to come out and say that he was spinning a load of crap." King added.  
  
"She didn't say that." JR defended the brunette superstar. "But I think Matt was very inconsiderate. I visited Lita a number of times when she was out in the last year, and she was never talking about giving away the business, though she wouldn't talk about Matt. All she talked about was what was happening on both shows, how everyone was and the fact that she was coming back."  
  
"Really JR? I never knew that you visited her." King told him.  
  
"She's a good girl, I've known her for a long time." JR told him. "And right now I'll bet she's hurting pretty bad."  
  
Inside the room, Lita ignored Steve, and everyone else, wanting just for a few moments, to be alone.  
  
'Don't want your hand this time  
  
I'll save myself  
  
Maybe I'll wake up for once  
  
Not tormented daily, defeated by you  
  
Just when I thought I'd reached the bottom.'  
  
"Lita, please." Bill called out, "Just let us know you're okay!"  
  
From inside the room she dialed his cell phone number from the ground line, and placed the receiver on the table, leaving the phone line open, throwing herself down onto the floor and staring up at the ceiling.  
  
As Bill went to answer the tiny ringing device, he was surprised at the amount of sound coming out of it.  
  
'I'm dying again  
  
I'm going under  
  
Drowning in you  
  
I'm falling forever  
  
I've got to break through  
  
I'm going under.'  
  
"Lita please." Steve bashed on the door again. "Come out, or I'll break it down."  
  
"Be my guest." She mumbled as she lay there, the phone picking up her words. "One of us might as well be destructive."  
  
'Blurring and stirring the truth and the lies  
  
So I don't know what's real  
  
And what's not  
  
Always confusing the thoughts in my head  
  
So I can't trust myself anymore.'  
  
Still ignoring everyone, trying to order her thoughts before they came in. Thoughts that swirled around her mind, barely making sense, though shouts of 'Lita come out', or 'Open the door' sounded, somewhere far away.  
  
'So go on and scream  
  
Scream at me  
  
I'm so far away  
  
I won't be broken again  
  
I've got to breathe  
  
I can't keep going under.'  
  
Again, the chorus played, signifying the end of the song.  
  
'I'm dying again  
  
I'm going under Drowning in you  
  
I'm falling forever  
  
I've got to break through  
  
I'm going under.'  
  
"Lita," Steve called again, "Open the door."  
  
"Who told you it was locked?" She asked, not moving.  
  
Bill listened intently to the sounds coming from his cell phone. "Steve, she says the door isn't locked."  
  
******  
  
At once Steve twisted the handle, pushing the door open, while everyone walked in behind him.  
  
Lita lay on her back in the middle of the floor, her hair spread out around her, simply staring up at the ceiling, not even bothering to look at them.  
  
"Are you all right?" Shawn asked her.  
  
"I drank a whole bottle of nail polish remover. I'm so upset I thought I'd try and put myself out of this misery." She told him.  
  
Trish shook her head, and sat down beside her. "Neither of us has any here, you dope. Now stop the tough girl routine and tell me what's going on."  
  
"Did you know that Matt used to cheat on me? Did anyone?" She asked.  
  
"You're joking." Tommy Dreamer stood in the doorway, his face worried, an expression Lita knew was for her.  
  
"I guess it was just me that knew then. I knew it for the longest time, and I never confronted him. Not because I was afraid he'd leave me for whoever he was with when he wasn't with me, but because I didn't want any more conflict in my life. I didn't want anyone else to fight with. In the end I didn't even call him on it. Jeff did.  
  
One night, when I was still in hospital with my neck broken, Matt said that he was going out. They thought I was asleep, in those days I was on drugs for pain, muscle relaxants, mood stablisers, for a while I was even taking antidepressants.  
  
Jeff asked him where he kept running off to, and Matt told him that it wasn't working, that Team Xtreme needed a new partner, and he had someone in mind. Jeff asked him how he thought I'd feel about it, and Matt said he didn't care. When they looked at me, I was lying there, looking at them, and Matt asked me what I'd heard. I told him to get out, and that if he did, he could never even think about coming back to me, and he didn't move. I asked him who was going to take my place, and he couldn't answer me.  
  
Do you know what it's like when all you want to do is run and hide, or scream and shout and hit something, and you can't? I couldn't move, couldn't look away, all I could do was close my eyes and wait for it all to end, for him to go. I was so disgusted with him, and so angry and disappointed in myself that night. It hurt mostly because I knew that I should have done something about it, said something to him earlier."  
  
"It's not you're fault." Tommy told her, moving over to pat her hand, knowing that she wouldn't really want to be touched.  
  
"It's not." Lita agreed with him. "It's something that no one can change, but that's why it hurt so much."  
  
"You really are strong person." Shawn told her.  
  
"Why? She asked. "I spent ten weeks attached to a steel frame, with screws from it holding my head and shoulders straight. I've still got the scars from where the doctors drilled into my shoulders to attach the thing to my collarbone, and marks on my head, where they put screws into my skull. I spent another three months flat on my back unable to sit up on my own, my boyfriend left me because he's an ass who likes to sleep around, and all that time newspapers and magazines were full of ingenious stories of how I'd never walk again, let alone wrestle or touch another championship belt."  
  
"I just meant that you see to have landed on your feet, even after everything that's happened." He told her.  
  
"Honey, I'm so sorry. I should have talked to you about him before now." Trish squeezed her hand. "I haven't been a very good friend have I?"  
  
Lita turned her head to look at her friend. "You were the friend I needed." Lita told her. "Always there for me, no matter what, never asking questions, just being there when everything overwhelmed me, or made me unhappy."  
  
"We've always been there for each other." Trish told her, almost in tears.  
  
Lita reached out pulling Trish to her, hugging the blonde to comfort her. "I'm not upset." Lita reassured her. "So you don't need to be either." Her voice was gentle, soothing, not at all what any of the men would have expected from the tenacious, fire-y, violent young woman they all knew and cared about.  
  
"You wrote that song didn't you?" Trish asked her. "The one you were playing a few minutes ago?"  
  
"Yeah, I wrote the first one, 'Not Me, Not I,' by myself, then I co-wrote 'Going Under' with a friend, Amy Lee while I was out, and told her she could have it. Her band Evanescence are just about to release it as a single." Lita answered. "She'd just broken up with the guy she was going out with. It's not really wise to leave a pair of depressed, heartbroken girls alone with a guitar and a keyboard."  
  
"Are you all right?" Steve asked. "I mean, nothing in here's broken, and I figured we'd need to re-fit the whole room."  
  
"The only time I ever intentionally break things is when I'm angry." She answered. "Matt gave up the right to piss me off a long time ago."  
  
"If you aren't angry," Shawn asked, "What are you?"  
  
"I don't know." Lita told him. "Just me I guess."  
  
"We were worried about you." Steve said to her.  
  
"I know you were." She answered. "And I'm glad you care enough to worry about me."  
  
"I don't know what to say to you." Bill told her. "I don't think I know how to make you feel better... other than don't worry about it." He told her. "Get your coat.'  
  
"Why?" She asked, "We both have matches."  
  
"We'll be back in time for those, don't worry, we're not going far." He reassured her, "Now get your coat."  
  
She lay there, staring up at him, as thought deciding what she was going to do.  
  
"The stars are still there." Goldberg told her, "But you'll need a coat to go out tonight."  
  
She smiled and sat up, pulling a sweater and a coat out of the mess she had in her duffle bag, shrugging both on. "Let's go then."  
  
"Where are you two going, exactly?" Steve asked.  
  
"The roof." Bill told him.  
  
**********  
  
They stood there together, with Bill's arms wrapped around her waist, keeping her warm.  
  
"Thank you for not doing anything stupid tonight." She told him.  
  
"Sometimes you just have to handle things by yourself." He answered. "I figured this was one of those times for you."  
  
"Are you disappointed that I didn't hit him?" Lita asked.  
  
"No." He answered. "You have a beautiful singing voice though."  
  
She blushed, glad she was facing away from him, looking up into the sky, and out over the city. "I have put Matt behind me." She said quietly. "He's not a part of my life anymore, and I don't think he'll get off easily when he gets back to SMACKDOWN! I'd say Vince and Stephanie will have something to say to him, and there's more than one superstar there who I trust."  
  
"So you think he'll get belted up anyway?"  
  
"I don't know." She answered. "Maybe just a yelling match. I'm not sure I like being so important."  
  
"You're important to me." Bill told her. "So don't ever doubt it."  
  
She lifted her head to rest it on the top of his shoulder. "I love you."  
  
"Sing for me?" He asked. "Anything."  
  
"In the arms of the angel  
  
Fly away from here  
  
From this dark cold hotel room  
  
And the endlessness that you fear  
  
You are pulled from the wreckage  
  
Of your silent reverie  
  
You're in the arms of the angel  
  
May you find some comfort here  
  
In the arms of the angel  
  
May you find some comfort here."  
  
She sang softly, allowing the haunting lyrics to wash over her, and free her from all the pain she'd been feeling, and the burdens she'd never wanted to bear. 


	13. Trouble in Paradise

Trouble In Paradise  
  
"I don't know where you get off sometimes Lita, I really don't."  
  
"What's so wrong with wanting to go out and do things with our friends? Fine you didn't want to go to the zoo, but do you have to be all pissed off with me because I did?"  
  
"I was tired." He shot back.  
  
"And I didn't make a fuss, I simply let you sleep. What is hell is so wrong with the fact that I cared enough to?" She answered, their voices becoming steadily louder.  
  
"You could have told me what time you'd be back. At least then I wouldn't have sat in a restaurant for over an hour waiting for you."  
  
"I never got the message." Lita shouted, "Now will you lay off?"  
  
"Why the hell should I? I left you a message, meet me at Leoni's at six- thirty."  
  
"I am telling you I never got a message."  
  
"That is a load of crap." He shouted at her. "You were in our room when I got back, stuffing around with Trish, Stacy and those other jerks."  
  
She glared at him, unable to think of anything to say to him, instead turned and began stuffing clothes into her sports bag.  
  
"Where are you going?" He shouted at her as she picked up her sports bag.  
  
"I'm going home." She told him tearfully, though refusing to let a single tear fall. "I'm going home to my mother."  
  
"Fine go!" He shouted again.  
  
Lita bit her lip, then walked out of the room, refusing to allow anyone to see her cry.  
  
"Lita!" Trish called after her. "I can't stop to talk now." She answered, not looking back. "I'll miss my plane."  
  
"Where are you going?"  
  
"To my parent's house in Fort Lauderdale." Lita called back, not looking at her. "I'll call you from there, okay?"  
  
"Have fun." Trish shouted down the hall, oblivious to her friend's pain.  
  
**********  
  
Lita called her parent's house from the airport. "Hi, mom? It's me."  
  
"Hello sweetheart." Her mother answered. "I was just going to call you."  
  
Lita cleared her throat, trying to calm down enough to be able to talk. "Is it okay if I come home for a few days? I miss you both."  
  
"Lita, you know you're always welcome at home. Are you sick? You don't sound good."  
  
"I feel really crappy mom. I feel really bad." She whispered into the phone.  
  
"Someone will pick you up from the airport." Mrs. Dumas promised. "What time does you flight get in?"  
  
"Around eleven-thirty."  
  
"I'll be there I promise. Take care of yourself, and stay warm."  
  
"I will. Maman, je t'aime." As she said her good byes, Lita slipped back into the habit of mixing languages. Then she hung up the phone, and dragged her luggage back over to the hard, uncomfortable airport chairs, to wait until her flight was called for boarding.  
  
*********  
  
Unable to focus, she shoved the book she was trying to read, Timeline, by Michael Crichton, back into her bag and slumped down in her seat. Nothing had ever hurt so badly, and she hadn't even done anything wrong.  
  
Desperate to find peace somewhere, Lita curled herself up in the seat, leaning her head against the window, and fell into a state of blissful ignorance of everything going on around her.  
  
She was woken several hours later by one of the air-hostesses, who stood there telling her to put her seatbelt on.  
  
Once the hostess had left her alone, Lita sat staring out of the window, waiting until she would home and safe with her family.  
  
*********  
  
In a daze she walked off the plane, dragging her sports bag with her, the only luggage she'd taken on the trip, and stood in the waiting room, looking for her mother or father.  
  
Near the baggage carousel she spotted her mother, with Lulu sitting obediently next to her. She hurried over to the pair, dropping her sports bag and throwing both arms around her mother. "I missed you so much." She sobbed.  
  
"Sweetheart, you should have just come home earlier. We missed you too." Her mother answered, returning the hug, but not saying anything about her daughter's long face, and tired eyes.  
  
Lita dropped down to pick Lulu up, the black and grey spaniel covering her face with doggy kisses. "I missed you too." She told the dog, kissing her nose.  
  
"Let's get home, hey? It's late." Mrs. Dumas coached her daughter.  
  
Lita nodded, shrugging the strap of her bag onto her shoulder, and walking out behind her mother.  
  
As they drove towards the house, Mrs. Dumas finally called her on it. "Are you going to tell me what's upset you so badly?" "Bill and I had a fight. He's mad at me for standing him up for dinner. Someone was supposed to have given me a message, but I never got it, he came back to the hotel and a couple of us were stuffing around in the hotel room. We had this huge argument before I left." Lita began to cry again.  
  
"Oh sweetheart." Mrs. Dumas reached out to pat her daughter's hand. "It sounds like you just got your wires crossed."  
  
"I know, and I tried to tell him that, but he was so angry with me, like he thought I'd done it on purpose."  
  
"Take it easy, everything will work out for you both in the end."  
  
"What if it doesn't mama? I really do love him. I don't even want to be fighting with him."  
  
"Sometimes that's just the way it goes." Mrs. Dumas answered. "But just remember that your father, Elka and I will always love you, and so will Lulu."  
  
Lita nodded, and stared out of the window, the scenery familiar, even in the dark.  
  
**********  
  
The next morning Lita was awoken by the sound of her cell phone buzzing on the night stand. Sleepily she reached over Lulu and picked it up. 'Bill' came up as the person calling, and without a second thought she turned the phone off, and pulled the covers back over her head.  
  
Later, she was woken by her mother, sitting on the bed next to her. "There's a phone call for you." Mrs. Dumas offered her daughter the cordless phone.  
  
"Who is it?" She asked.  
  
"It's Bill. He says he's been trying to call your cell phone all day."  
  
"Tell him I'm not here." Lita answered, shoving pillows over her head.  
  
"He knows that you are, Amy." Mrs. Dumas told her, using her daughter's proper name.  
  
"Mama, I don't want to talk to him. He's just going to yell at me some more." She answered, her voice muffled by the sound of the pillows.  
  
"The phone's sitting on the bed."  
  
Lita felt the bed move as her mother stood, and left the room. From underneath the pillows she snaked an arm out to grab the phone. "What?"  
  
"I just thought I'd call and tell you that I'm going to Shawn's for the week, so if you want to call and apologize, that's where I'll be."  
  
"Why would I call to apologize?" She asked. "I didn't do anything wrong."  
  
"At least I bothered to call you." He snapped.  
  
"Go to hell." She screeched into the phone, before pressing the end call button and sobbing into the bed sheets.  
  
A little while later Mrs. Dumas lay down on the bed with her, wrapping an arm around her daughter.  
  
"Didn't go too well, did it?" She asked.  
  
"Mom, why does everything have to be so hard? How is it that I can I love him so much, but we can still fight the way we do?"  
  
"Because you're both still learning, about each other, about relationships, about the world we live in. And that's wonderful, because it tells me that my little girl is alive, and she's living her life."  
  
"Why does it have to hurt?"  
  
"We take the high with the low, Amy, the good with the bad, and the joy with the heartache and the pain. It's just part of life."  
  
"I don't want it to be." Lita muttered.  
  
"Sweetheart, you don't have to lie here in bed and cry. Yell at the world, scream about how unfair it all is, but don't bottle this up inside. Don't hide yourself away."  
  
"Why not?" She pulled at one of her old stuffed animals, hugging the old teddy bear close to her chest.  
  
"Because you light up my world Amy. Ever since the day you were born, it's been a better place, and you've made me a better person. I know that you make a lot of other people feel that way too. Don't hide yourself sweetheart, we need you."  
  
Like she had when she was a little girl, Lita curled up in her mother's lap and sobbed.  
  
A/N: I know that Lita's mom is calling her 'Amy ' in this chapter. I figured it showed more of the closeness between mother and daughter. 


	14. White Flag

A/N: Song in this chapter is 'White Flag' by Dido.  
  
Not mine, characters not mine.  
  
Thanks to everyone who reviews for me.  
  
Samantha.  
  
White Flag  
  
"Come on, come on." Lita muttered in frustration as she waited at the airport.  
  
"Ms. Dumas, we are working as fast as we can." One of the attendants told her.  
  
"I know, and I'm grateful to you." She answered. "It's just, I have to be a work in less than an hour."  
  
"We'll keep on doing our best." He promised.  
  
"Do you have a phone I can use?" Lita asked. "I need to call my boss. Maybe he can help somehow."  
  
"Sure, just use the one on the desk there." The man gestured to the phone.  
  
Sighing, Lita picked up the handset and dialed. "Sharon, it's Lita can I talk to Steve please?" She asked, then waited for the call to be put through.  
  
"Lita, what's going on?" Steve's voice came over the line.  
  
"I'm having a really bad day." She told him. "A few days ago I had a fight with Bill, and I flew home to see my mom and dad. And I caught a flight out to where RAW is being shot tonight. I got off the plane from Florida, and as I was coming to the baggage terminal I got mugged, but I'm okay. I'm just still at the airport. I can't go anywhere because all of my ID, cash, and credit cards were in my purse and my purse is in my bag, which got stolen. So I guess I'm calling to say I'll probably be a little late to the arena tonight."  
  
"Are you hurt?" Steve asked first off, his voice full of worry.  
  
"No, I'm not hurt, a little shaken, pretty pissed off with myself, but I'm okay." Lita answered.  
  
"Just sit tight. I'm sending a car over for you now. Have you cancelled credit cards and things?"  
  
"Yeah I sat down with the police, they took care of it all for me."  
  
"I'll have a car there for you soon, just sit tight. Are you in administration?"  
  
"Yeah." She told him. "Thanks Steve. I didn't know who else to call."  
  
Lita sat there in the administration waiting area, hugging her knees to her chest, waiting. "I'm glad I sent the CD to him by courier." She mumbled to herself, rocking from side to side.  
  
Finally the driver of the car appeared in the administration area, and took her bags for her, taking care of everything.  
  
***************  
  
Before the show began on Monday night, Shawn Michaels walked into Goldberg's locker room. "Sorry man. I looked everywhere. I even asked everyone I saw, no one's seen her. I couldn't even find out if she's scheduled to be here or not."  
  
Kevin Nash walked in as he finished speaking. "I didn't find her either, Bill. Sorry. I did find this though." He held up a CD case. "It was sitting in the door way. I almost stood on it."  
  
"It wasn't there when I walked in a minute ago." Shawn told him.  
  
Bill took the CD from Kevin and put it in the boom box that traveled with him, and leaving it.  
  
"There's something written on here." Shawn announced, holding the case up to the light.  
  
Silver marker showed up in the light, forming two words scrawled across the plastic in a familiar handwriting.  
  
"White Flag?" Kevin asked.  
  
"Play the disc." Shawn told Bill.  
  
At once the music began to play through the speakers, haunting and enticing at the same time.  
  
"I know you think that I shouldn't still love you  
  
Or tell you this  
  
But if I didn't say it  
  
Well I'd still have felt it,  
  
Where's the sense in that?  
  
I promise I'm not trying to make you life harder  
  
Or return to where we were  
  
But I will go down with this ship  
  
And I won't put my hands up and surrender  
  
There will be no white flag above my door  
  
I'm in love  
  
And always will be  
  
I know I left too much mess and destruction to come back again  
  
And I cause nothing but trouble  
  
I understand if you can't talk to me again  
  
And if you live by the rules and it's over  
  
Then I'm sure that that makes sense  
  
But I will go down with this ship  
  
And I won't put my hands up and surrender  
  
There will be no white flag above my door  
  
I'm in love  
  
And always will be  
  
And where we meet which I'm sure we will  
  
Our love was there, will be there still  
  
I'll let it pass and hold my tongue  
  
And you will think  
  
That I've moved on  
  
But I will go down with this ship  
  
And I won't put my hands up and surrender  
  
There will be no white flag above my door  
  
I'm in love  
  
And always will be  
  
I will go down with this ship  
  
And I won't put my hands up and surrender  
  
There will be no white flag above my door  
  
I'm in love  
  
And always will be  
  
I will go down with this ship  
  
And I won't put my hands up and surrender  
  
There will be no white flag above my door  
  
I'm in love  
  
And always will be."  
  
"Lita." He said quietly. "The CD is from her."  
  
"How do you know?" Kevin asked.  
  
"Because it was her singing." He answered.  
  
"I think she's trying to tell you she's not giving up." Shawn observed.  
  
"No shit Sherlock!" Kevin teased him.  
  
"I'm serious." Shawn told him. "I bet if you go to her locker room, she'll be there. Probably waiting for you." "Do you want to get back with her?" Kevin asked.  
  
"I just want to have one conversation with her where we don't yell at each other. I love her so much, but she makes me so mad sometimes."  
  
"Women are like that." Shawn advised. "The madder they make us, the more we realize how much we love them."  
  
"So do I stay here, or do I go and find her?" Bill asked them.  
  
"Go and find her!" Both men shouted at him.  
  
*********  
  
He knocked lightly on the door to Lita's and Trish's locker room, then entered.  
  
Trish stuck her head around the corner of the bathroom door. "Hey, what's going on?" Her blonde hair was wet, plastered to her head, making it obvious she was just out of the shower.  
  
"Is Lita here?" He asked.  
  
"I haven't seen her yet. I do know that she called ahead and told Steve she was running late somewhere. All he could tell me was that she promised she'd be here before her match."  
  
He exhaled loudly.  
  
"Is something the matter?" She asked.  
  
"I just really wanted to talk to her."  
  
"Is it because of the fight you two had?" Trish asked. "Don't look all surprised. We talk everyday on the phone, and it's not very often that we don't tell each other everything."  
  
"Did she tell you everything?" Bill asked her.  
  
"Yeah." Trish disappeared from sight for several minutes, the emerged from the bathroom fully dressed, a towel wrapped around her wet hair. "Sit down, and start telling me everything. It'll make you feel better." She gestured to the various places to sit in the room, throwing herself into an armchair.  
  
"We argue, you know, about stupid things, and it doesn't matter. I know that I over-reacted and that it was just a mix up, and I'd give so much to just make it all better between us. I love her so much Trish. But I don't know what I can do to make it up to her."  
  
"You just did." Both Trish and Bill turned to see Lita standing there, her sports bag draped over one shoulder. "I hate fighting with you, and I don't know why we do."  
  
Bill stood taking her bag and dropping it before leaning down to kiss her.  
  
"I missed you." She told him tearfully. "I'm having a really bad day." Surprising both Bill and Trish she burst into tears, dropping her other bags to the floor.  
  
"God I love you." He held her close, while she laid her head against his chest.  
  
"I'm sorry I didn't check my messages." Lita told him in between sobs.  
  
"It's not your fault, I should have left you a note anyway." He answered, tilting her chin up to kiss her again.  
  
"I felt really bad. Worse than that."  
  
"I got your CD. It was beautiful." Bill told her as they sunk down onto the couch together.  
  
"Was it a bad apology?"  
  
He shook his head. "Tell me about this bad day you're having?" He suggested. "It'll make you feel better..."  
  
************ In the hall Trish met up with Kevin and Shawn.  
  
"So I'm guessing you two are the ones who convinced him to make up with her?" She asked them.  
  
"We only gave him a little shove in the right direction." Shawn told her. "Where are they?"  
  
"In our locker room." Trish told them. "You know they're both really screwed up."  
  
"So what happened?" Kevin asked.  
  
"When Bill rocked up, Lita wasn't even here. So I told him to sit down and talk to me. He's sitting there telling me how much he wanted to make it up to her, and standing the doorway, is Lita. She told him that he'd already made it up to her, and now they're probably kicking it on the couch." Trish explained.  
  
"That's a lovely picture." Shawn screwed up his face.  
  
"You aren't the one who will have to go in there later, so bite your tongue." She told him.  
  
"I think it was a job well done." Kevin told the other two. "What do you say we get a drink?"  
  
"As long as it's only coffee." Trish warned them. "We'll get our asses kicked if we're intoxicated in the ring tonight."  
  
"Coffee it is." Shawn agreed. "How does lattes sound?"  
  
"As long as it's a frappe mocha-latte, with extra foam, I don't care." Trish answered. "We did good tonight, and all week long."  
  
"I can't believe she hung up on him." Kevin said as they walked.  
  
"He started yelling at her. Hanging up was the proper response." Trish answered.  
  
"In whose version of maturity?" Shawn asked.  
  
"The female version." She told him. "I don't expect people to yell at me, and I know that it kills Lita. The only thing you can do is hang up the phone. I hung up on Eric Bischoff last week. He was yelling at me."  
  
"So I can hang up on a girl who's yelling at me?" Kevin asked.  
  
"No. If a girl's yelling at you over the phone, there must be a reason."  
  
"That's a double standard." Shawn told her as they paid for their coffees.  
  
"What did you expect?" She asked. "If there was only one set of rules the world wouldn't be any fun." 


	15. Too Close To Home

A/N: This chapter is about terrorism, and if you don't want to read about that please skip the next 2-3 chapters.  
  
I myself come from Australia, and I actually wrote this chapter on the 13th of October, 2003, the anniversary of the Bali bombings. It's my take on how terrorism can affect the lives of people in the world today.  
  
Let me know what you think.  
  
Samantha.  
  
Too Close To Home.  
  
After the show was over, Trish and Lita threw an impromptu party in their locker room, to celebrate their third straight win over Gail Kim, and Molly Holly.  
  
Someone turned on some music, and the three divas turned an open space in the room into a dance floor, while Shawn and Kevin produced a cooler full of beer and several mixed drinks.  
  
As Trish, Lita and Stacy got some of the guys up to dance, throwing their hips and moving fluidly in time with the music, the door to their locker room opened, and Stone Cold Steve Austin stood there, a grave expression on his face. "Would someone turn off the music, please?"  
  
Trish reached out and stopped the CD.  
  
"Steve, we're sorry the music was so loud. We'll turn it down a bit, it can't be that bad." Lita told him, a huge grin on her face.  
  
"Could you all just calm down please." Steve told them, his grave expression still plastered to his face. "Lita, I need to see you in my office. Would you come with me please?"  
  
Surprised, she nodded and followed him out of the room.  
  
**********  
  
As they walked down the hall, Lita tried to get him to talk, but he remained silent.  
  
He held the door open for her when they reached the office. "Take a seat please." He told her, gesturing to the black leather couch.  
  
She nodded, perching on the edge of the couch, her eyes wide, almost frightened of what he might say. "This isn't about my purse is it?" She asked nervously.  
  
"Lita, about five minutes ago I got a phone call from your mom. She called to ask me to tell you that your sister, Elka has been caught in a terrorist attack, and she's been killed." He told her gently.  
  
Unknown to her, Lita began shaking. "What did you just say?" She asked him, unsure of his words.  
  
"Lita, Elka's been killed in a terrorist attack." He repeated softly.  
  
"Someone must have made a mistake." She told him, tears trickling down her cheeks. "I would know if something had happened to her. It's not true."  
  
"Why don't you call your mother?" Steve suggested.  
  
At once she snatched up the phone, dialing the number blind. "Mom? Mama?" She asked into the receiver. "Where's Elka? Is she all right?"  
  
Steve watched her, unable to do anything to help her, as she sunk down onto the couch.  
  
"No, no, no." She said, pained, her voice catching in her throat. "She's got to be all right. Check with the hospital, it can't be her. She's probably over at Carla's painting her nails and talking about boys." She listened to the receiver for several moments, then dropped the phone onto the couch, looking up at Steve, her bottom lip quivering uncontrollably.  
  
"I'm sorry I had to tell you." He told her, not knowing if his words penetrated the cloud of her grief, reaching out to cover her with a blanket.  
  
There was a knock on the door, which Steve stood up to answer, not wanting anyone to see Lita the way she was.  
  
"Hey, I've got a bone to pick with you..." Chris Jericho began.  
  
"Look, now's not the best time for this Chris." Steve told him. "Do you think you could go and get Trish Stratus and Bill Goldberg for me?"  
  
"What's going on?" He asked, peering around the door, seeing Lita curled up on the couch, tears running down her face, the pain she was feeling obvious. "Yeah, I'll bring them here." He promised.  
  
********  
  
He opened the door to Trish and Lita's locker room, to pounding music and gyrating bodies. Reaching out he pushed the stop button on the CD player.  
  
"What the hell do you want Jericho?" Shawn asked.  
  
"I was just at the co-GM's office. Steve asked me to come and get Trish and Bill." He told them.  
  
"Is Lita okay?" Trish asked.  
  
"I don't know." Chris told her. "But Steve didn't seem too happy, kinda sad. Anyway I think Lita needs you both. I think she was crying when I saw her."  
  
Both superstars left the room quickly, headed in the direction of the office.  
  
"What happened?" Stacy asked.  
  
"I honestly don't know. I went there to talk to Steve, Lita was on the couch wrapped up in a blanket. I'm pretty sure she was crying." Chris told them. "She didn't look good."  
  
*********  
  
Trish and Bill didn't bother to knock on the door, just twisted the handle and walked in. Steve was crouched in front of Lita, who was curled up on the couch, sobbing into his shoulder.  
  
At once Trish sat down beside her friend and hugged her. Lita let go of Steve and just let Trish hold her as she cried, rocking her backwards and forwards, like a small child.  
  
"What happened?" Bill asked Steve, his shoulder and neck damp from Lita's tears.  
  
"Her mom called me, wanted me to tell Lita that her sister was killed in a terrorist attack in Miami." Steve told him quietly, while on the couch Lita sobbed even harder.  
  
Bill knelt down in front of her, doing his best to comfort her, though nothing seemed to make a difference. Finally, the tears stopped coming, and her sobs abated, just staying where she was, in the safety of Trish's and Bill's arms.  
  
"I want to go home." She told them, her voice raspy and full of sorrow.  
  
"I know." Steve told her. "There's three seats reserved in your names for a flight that leaves at one-thirty this morning. It's all I could get you."  
  
"My little sister's never coming home." She said quietly. "Never coming home."  
  
"Let's go and get packed up so that we can leave straight away." Trish told her gently. "We'll get our stuff together, and then go straight to the airport."  
  
Lita nodded, shrugging the blanket off. "Let's just go do something. I really need to just do something."  
  
*********  
  
The four of them walked back to the locker room, not surprised to find it still full of people.  
  
"Hey, did you know that there was a terrorist attack in Miami earlier tonight?" Scott said to them, staring at the TV screen as they walked into the room.  
  
On cue Lita burst into tears. Trish put her arms around her friend, lowering her into one of the seats. "Do you think you could turn that off?" Trish snapped at her. "Lita's sister was killed in it."  
  
"Little sister Elka?" Shawn asked, turning pale.  
  
Lita nodded, spraying tears everywhere. "Those sons of bitches killed my little sister." She choked out.  
  
"Lita, I'm sorry." Scott said to her, turning the TV off. "I didn't know."  
  
"Can someone please find me a phone?" Lita asked, her voice strained from her latest crying jag.  
  
"Here." Stacy passed one to her.  
  
Lita pushed several buttons, then held the phone up to her ear as it rang. Several moments later she smashed her fist into the wooden seat, not even wincing as her bare skin connected with the heavy wood, and dialed a different number.  
  
"Who are you calling?" Trish asked gently.  
  
"Jeff's not home, he'll be over at Gil's I think." She told the blonde, her voice high pitched, echoing her unstable emotions as she put the phone to her ear.  
  
******  
  
"Hello?" Halfway across the country the phone was picked up.  
  
"Matt? It's me." She said into the receiver.  
  
"Lita?" He asked. "You sound terrible."  
  
"Have you seen the news?" She asked.  
  
"No." He answered, "Look do you want to talk to dad or Jeff?"  
  
"Just shut up and listen." She told him "Elka is dead. My little sister is dead Matt."  
  
"Are you okay?" He asked.  
  
"No, I'm not okay. I'm stuck in fucking Seattle. I can't leave here until one-thirty this time. Do I honestly sound okay?"  
  
"Calm down." He advised. "Are you sure?"  
  
"I just called my mother." Lita snapped. "Of course I'm sure."  
  
"I'm sorry, it's just..."  
  
"Is there someone else there I can talk to?" She asked. "Jeff or Gil, or god even Shannon or John or Sable or Torrie, whoever you're sleeping with this week, I don't care. Just anyone but you. I can't deal with you."  
  
"Hang on a second."  
  
Several moments later Jeff's voice came over the line. "Li, Matt just told me what happened. I'll be on the next flight out there, I promise. Tell Bill and Trish they better take care of you until I get there, and send my love and condolences to your parents."  
  
She nodded. "I love you Jeff. I hope you know that." Once more she burst into tears.  
  
"Hey," He said gently. "Elka knew that you loved her, and she loved you too. Don't forget that." He advised gently, wishing that he could be there to comfort her.  
  
"I'm going to pack and book a plane ticket now, so I'll see you in Fort Lauderdale."  
  
"I'll see you at home." She answered.  
  
"Come on Li." Trish told her. "Let's get you packed up and ready to go."  
  
For several seconds Lita just stared at her. "I... Do you know where I put my stuff?"  
  
"Come Lita." Stacy coached her, leading the brunette, over to her to where a pile of Lita's stuff sat in the corner. "I'll help you pack up your stuff." 


	16. God Bless The Brand New Angel

A/N: I did not write the biblical passage in this chapter, nor is the song 'Remember Me This Way', mine. (For anyone who's curious it's from the soundtrack of the movie Casper with Christina Ricci.)  
  
Thanks guys,  
  
Samantha  
  
**********  
  
God Bless The Brand New Angel  
  
On the way to Lita's parent's house from the airport, Lita insisted that they stop at the club where the bomb had been detonated, and Elka had died.  
  
As she stepped out of the car, the burnt out ruins loomed overhead.  
  
She swallowed hard and moved to where other mourners stood, laying wreaths and bouquets of flowers, as well as photographs, teddy bears, balloons and hundreds of other things had been placed, at the entrance of the night club, candles lending a comforting light among the mountains of grief.  
  
A photograph of Elka had been placed on the front step, and was already surrounded by stuffed animals, flowers and messages from friends. Lita knelt down to lay her bouquet of flowers down in front of the photograph, crossing herself and offering a prayer.  
  
"Lord, take my sister, Elka into your care. Watch over her and cherish her as we cherished her on Earth. Protect her and keep her safe from harm, like a shepherd who watches over his sheep."  
  
"Lita?" A voice asked.  
  
She stood up and turned around. "Carla." The younger woman rushed into her open arms, hugging her tightly.  
  
The two women stood there like that for a long moment. Lita pulled away to look at her. "How are you holding up?"  
  
"I don't know. I just feel numb. Have you come from your place?"  
  
"No, from the airport. I just got in from Seattle." Lita told her.  
  
"Are you going to stay here for a while?"  
  
"No." She answered. "I did what I came to do here, and I think you have too. Let me take you home Carla. This isn't a place for the living any more. It's just a memorial for the dead." A solitary tear trickled down Lita's cheek as she looked at the ruins for the last time.  
  
The younger woman nodded her blonde head, walking arm in arm back to the car.  
  
**********  
  
Two days later wrestling superstars mixed with ordinary people, exchanging their colorful costumes for black suits and dresses, as they stood in the cemetery.  
  
"We send the body of our sister, Elka Hannah-Jade into God's care, and into the Earth." The priest told the congregation. "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust." He paused to throw a handful of dirt onto the coffin. "As we do this, we remember the words written in the Holy Bible.  
  
'To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: a time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which has been planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time gather stones together, a time to embrace, and a time refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silent, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.'"  
  
Lita felt Bill's arms around her waist, but managed to stay standing, and lean down to throw a single white rose, in full bloom onto the coffin.  
  
Somewhere music began to play, and Lita began to sing the same haunting melody she'd thrown herself into on the plane from Seattle.  
  
"Every now and then  
  
We find a special friend who never lets us down  
  
Who understands it all  
  
Reaches out each time we fall  
  
You're the best friend that I've found  
  
I know you can't stay  
  
But part of you will never ever go away  
  
Your heart will stay  
  
I'll make a wish for you  
  
And hope it will come true  
  
That life will just be kind  
  
To such a gentle mind  
  
If you lose your way  
  
Think back on yesterday  
  
Remember me this way  
  
Remember me this way.  
  
I don't need eyes to see  
  
The love you bring to me  
  
No matter where I go  
  
And I know that you'll be there  
  
Forever more a part of me  
  
You're everywhere  
  
I'll always care  
  
I'll make a wish for you  
  
And hope it will come true  
  
That life will just be kind  
  
To such a gentle mind  
  
If you lose your way  
  
Think back on yesterday  
  
Remember me this way  
  
Remember me this way.  
  
And I'll be right behind your shoulder  
  
Watching you  
  
I'll be standing by your side in all you do  
  
And I won't ever leave  
  
As long as you believe  
  
You just believe  
  
I'll make a wish for you  
  
And hope it will come true  
  
That life will just be kind  
  
To such a gentle mind  
  
If you lose your way  
  
Think back on yesterday  
  
Remember me this way  
  
Remember me this way.  
  
This way."  
  
As the last notes of the song played out he voice wavered, but still held, tears coursing down her cheeks. "Elka was my sister, and I was privileged to have known her for the eighteen years that I did. She loved her life, and mine." Lita managed a smile. "Some people standing here today will be thinking, 'how can she stand there and talk about her sister like this, when they didn't have any blood ties, when Elka was adopted', but I like to think that it doesn't matter.  
  
Elka was my sister in every way one can be a sister. She borrowed my nail polish and lipsticks, and some of the time she was an absolute pain in the ass. But that's what being a little sister is all about, and I'm proud to be able to call myself her big sister.  
  
It's often said that the greatest things happen to you when you least expect them to. Which makes Elka herself probably the best thing to ever happen to me. For everyone that knew her, she was a fountain of optimism and light, and in my life I've needed that support more times than I can count.  
  
So, I love you Elka, don't ever forget any of us. God bless the brand new angel, taken from us before her we were ready to let her go." As she spoke the last words, Lita began to sob, holding tight to Bill and Jeff, with Trish trying to comfort her as well. 


	17. Back on RAW

A/N: PG 13 for language. We're finally back to the wrestling in this fic and I hope everyone saw the Rumble. I nearly died when six of my favs were thrown out. but I was okay in the end, because the guys who won, won. (I won't say who in case some people haven't watched it yet, or they just don't want to know.)  
  
Samantha/  
  
Several days later Lita and the others flew to Memphis, Tennessee, where Raw would be held that week.  
  
"Hey Lita." Chris greeted her quietly. "I was sorry to hear about your sister."  
  
Lita stared at the man for a moment, and in that split second began to give him some respect. "Thank you." She bowed her head. "Excuse me."  
  
"Uh, Eric wanted to see you in the office." He told her. "If you want, I'll pretend I haven't seen you."  
  
"No, I'll go." She nodded her head and turned towards the co-GM's office.  
  
Lita knocked lightly on the door, then pushed it open. "Chris said you wanted to see me."  
  
"He was right." Eric told her. "Take a seat."  
  
Cautiously she perched herself on the edge of the chair, ready to move if the occasion called for it, her mistrust of the man deep seated, and with good reason.  
  
"I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry about your sister. Steve told me the two of you were close." He began.  
  
"Is there a point to this?" Lita asked him.  
  
**********  
  
"Fucking little man." Lita swore. "Fucking little bastard little man."  
  
Viciously she kicked her sports bag across the room into the lockers. "Fucking little good for nothing son of a bitch bastard." She cursed again.  
  
"So what did the bag do again?" A voice asked from behind her.  
  
"What do you want Chris?" She snapped.  
  
"I thought I'd stop in and check on you, there were lots of very violent noises coming from here."  
  
"Fucking little rodent-man bastard." Lita kicked her water bottle across the floor, which popped open, showering Chris with water.  
  
"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that you're not happy." Lita turned back to see Jericho had been joined by Bill, Trish, Scott, Stacy and Shawn.  
  
"Fucking little good for nothing lousy son of a bitch little man." She kicked the bench, not even wincing as her foot connected with the solid timber.  
  
"What's Eric done now?" Bill asked, catching her fists before she could pound into the lockers.  
  
"Trish, Jacqueline and I are in a tagteam match against Molly, Gail and Jazz." She answered, pausing to wind tape around her fists before sliding them into a pair of boxing gloves and tentatively hitting the punching bag a few times.  
  
"What's wrong with that?" Trish asked, watching as the brunette belted into the punching bag, kicking with her powerful long legs to make it swing erratically backwards and forwards, nailing it with each punch, lunge and kick. The others simply admired her skills.  
  
"I don't trust the sorry son of a bitch." Lita told them. "The fucking little man is up to something."  
  
"Fucking little man?" Jericho asked.  
  
"Fucking little good for nothing son of a bitch bastard little man seemed a bit too long." She said sarcastically.  
  
************  
  
Lita winced as Jazz's knee connected with the flat of her belly, forcing the air from her lungs. As she dropped to the mat she looked around to find out where Trish and Jacqueline were.  
  
Too fast the six-women tag match had turned into a brawl.  
  
The referee Charles Robinson was barely conscious, obviously concussed. Trish lay slumped against the steel steps, blood trickling down the side of her face, though from where she lay, Lita couldn't see the cut. Jacqueline was sprawled out on the rubber matting outside the ring, Gail Kim lying motionless beside her.  
  
Hands took hold of her arms, dragging her to her feet, and flinging her backwards.  
  
"Would you look at this King, this blatant cheating. Two member of Lita's team down, and referee Charles Robinson still seeing stars thanks to that steel chair shot by Molly Holly."  
  
"But look JR, look!" King shouted into his microphone. "There's someone coming over from the audience, two people!"  
  
Something was being called by the announcers, though she was long past understanding what they were saying.  
  
As she was being propelled backwards into the ropes, somewhere behind her, a voice shouted, "Fall back!"  
  
Feeling the harsh bite of the ropes against her skin, Lita hooked her arms around the top rope, leaning backwards and allowing herself to fall, praying that someone was going catch her, and that Molly and Jazz hadn't worked out what was going on.  
  
Surprisingly she didn't fall far, or land hard, but was caught up in someone's arms. Looking up she expected to see Goldberg, but instead found herself looking into the face of the Undertaker.  
  
"Nice catch." She gasped, still trying to catch her breath.  
  
"Nice fall." He answered, placing her gently on her feet, his sheer size deterring the two angry divas in the ring from continuing their assault. "Are you okay?" He asked, passing a gentle hand over her neck.  
  
"Takes more than that to keep this girl down." Jeff said, appearing beside the Undertaker. He flung a protective arm around her waist, turning as a horde of RAW superstars came hurtling down the ramp, in order to take out Jeff and the Undertaker.  
  
Evolution, Rodney Mack, Mark Henry and Test fell upon the two men, with Lita being shoved aside to try and keep her safe.  
  
She fell heavily against the side of the ring bruising her hip and side, but managing to stay on her feet, checking to see where Jazz and Molly were, before she slid into the ring on her belly, watching as the two women dragged Gail up the ramp as they fled.  
  
Below her, at ringside, Jeff and 'Taker were getting a hiding from the others, six against two.  
  
Ignoring the pain that wracked her body, she moved to the ropes once more, climbed the corner post and stood on the top rope, making sure she was balanced before she let go, crouching down low, then springing off the ropes using their leverage to gain extra height, throwing herself at the three members of Evolution in a move that would have made champion fliers like Jeff and Rob Van Dam drool.  
  
Where she connected with the members of Evolution filled her body with stabbing pains, the impact jarring her joints, while she felt someone haul her roughly off the pile of bodies, grabbing her around the waist, lifting her upside down.  
  
In Lita's mind, thoughts of self-preservation kicked in as she realized that whoever had picked her up was going to piledrive her skull into the thin rubber matting that covered the floor.  
  
Before whoever it was could let her go, she locked her legs around his neck, choking him as best she could, and clawing at his arms, midsection, whatever she could reach with her fingernails.  
  
Somewhere in the distant parts of her mind that had all but ceased to function, Lita heard someone shouting something like, 'Is there anything this girl won't do?'  
  
Whoever was holding her began trying to dislodge her, ramming her already pained body into the side of the ring, the corner post, the barriers, whatever he could find, dumping her unglamorously to the floor pain jarring all of her joints once more, blood pouring out of several cuts in her face and shoulders, but digging deep to find the energy to sweep the guy's feet out from under him, bringing him crashing to the floor. Test.  
  
Even though she couldn't feel the pain in her body any more, Lita found herself unable to rise to her feet.  
  
As Test stood up, holding the back of his head before turning his attention back to her, Lita managed to sit up, doing all that she could to not look into his eyes. 'If you do,' a little voice inside her head told her, 'You won't be able to move', while another voice inside her screamed, 'This is it. Time's up, your going to die.'  
  
Then suddenly, Test wasn't so threatening, he was falling, and people were standing over her, looking down at her concerned, trainers and referees, one of whom was holding a steel chair.  
  
"Can you move?"  
  
"Lita, tell us where it hurts."  
  
For several moments, instead of answering any of their questions, or even trying to speak, all she focused on was breathing, trying to suck as much oxygen into her starved lungs as possible.  
  
Then in a rush, more face loomed over her, Bill, Shawn, Kevin, Trish, Jeff, 'Taker, even Stone Cold Steve Austin.  
  
"Come on sweetie." Trish told her, reaching for her hand. "Let's get you back to the locker room."  
  
Lita stared up at her in surprise, not quite thinking clearly. "Do you even know how much of a bloody mess you are?"  
  
The bloody, blonde Canadian flopped down beside her, too exhausted to stand. "Have you looked in the mirror?" Trish asked her in return.  
  
Instead of saying anything, Bill picked her up, cradling her gently against his chest. "I'm so sorry, someone locked us all in our locker rooms, all we could do was watch on the monitors, until Steve came and let us out."  
  
As he spoke new music began playing through the speakers. 'I'm the man... And better than ever... I'm the man... And making things better..."  
  
"Excuse me!" The co-GM shouted into his microphone. "We seem to have acquired a pair of SMACKDOWN! superstars. Undertaker, Jeff Hardy, you do not have permission to be here, and you will be escorted from the arena by security immediately."  
  
From somewhere Steve managed to produce a microphone. "Hang on there, Eric. I know that you can see the Undertaker. I know that you can see Jeff Hardy. They're my guests here tonight, you jackass. You can check their passes if you like."  
  
From Bill's arms Lita could see Bischoff fuming, but before he could speak again, Stone Cold cut him off. "Are you angry, Eric? Are you mad?" He paused. "I know I'm mad. You wanna know why? I'll tell you why. You played these divas. Got Molly Holly, Jazz and Gail Kim to beat down on Trish Stratus, on Jacqueline, on Lita. Then you send your lapdogs out here to beat down on my guests. You locked the rest of our superstars in their locker rooms so that they couldn't do anything to help their friends. You might be mad, Eric, but I'm not mad any more, I'm PISSED OFF. Now get the hell outta my face!" With those words he dropped the microphone, which shrieked and squealed at it rolled around facing several of the speakers before someone picked it up, Stone Cold having moved to where Shawn Michaels and Jeff Hardy were holding Trish up, while Kevin Nash and the Undertaker, as well as many others including the Dudley Boyz, stood by watching for any further attacks. Jacqueline, still unconscious, was being wheeled out by the EMTs, strapped to a stretcher. 


	18. Iced Water

Iced Water.  
  
In the trainer's room Bill laid her down gently on one of the padded benches. "Can you tell us where it hurts?" He asked.  
  
She just lay there, staring up at the ceiling. "My neck and my back were sore, uh, my hip was too, the back of my head, and my chest is tight... Nothing really hurts now."  
  
"Nothing hurts?" He asked.  
  
Lita nodded. "I know that things should be hurting..."  
  
One of the trainers moved to her side, examining her neck. "There's definitely swelling here. I'll organize you some X-rays tomorrow morning to make sure that everything is okay in there, but from here, it looks fine."  
  
She said nothing, simply lying there as he moved his hands to check her ribs.  
  
"Breathe in for me. Now out... you're looking at a couple of severely bruised ribs as well."  
  
"Must be my lucky day." Lita muttered as he moved down to check her hip, moving it gently, before rotating it as far as he could.  
  
When he looked up at Lita, her eyes sparkled with tears, though she'd made no sound during the examination. "That bloody well hurt." She told him through clenched teeth.  
  
A few moments later, the trainer left her side, having produced some ice from her neck and hip, going off to find a neck brace for her.  
  
"How can you just lie there?" Kevin asked her. "Bruised ribs, swelling in your neck and hip, one hell of a headache, not to mention so much bruising it's almost impossible to tell what color your skin really is. Aren't you in pain?"  
  
"Swimming in it." She answered. "Absolute fucking agony right now, every time I move, especially whenever I breathe."  
  
"How do you feel now?" 'Taker asked.  
  
"Now I don't even want to feel it. I just can't because it hurts too much, so after a while, I just stop feeling it, and swim in it."  
  
"Swim in it?" Rob asked.  
  
"Have you ever been swimming at the beach, or in a lake?" She asked, trying to find a way to explain it to them.  
  
"Remember how, when you get in the water, everything below the surface hurts, just for a moment, when you first get in.  
  
But you keep going, keep walking further and further out, and more of you is going under and you're still in pain, but you keep going because you want to get fully under and take a swim.  
  
Every step you take the water gets deeper, and once you put your head under it's almost unbearable and you surface quickly.  
  
When you break the surface, it's colder out there though, so you stay in, and the pain recedes, you can swim and do whatever, because you can't feel it anymore, but that's what was inhibiting you in the first place. That's what this is like."  
  
Trish nodded. "Like that time we went swimming in the middle of Spring at the lake near the house in Cameron?"  
  
Lita nodded.  
  
"It was like knives stabbing you all over, because it was iced water, topped up by melted snow, but we couldn't get out or the other guys were going to water bomb us, so we stayed in until they'd bombed each other so much that there weren't any water bombs left."  
  
"After what you did tonight, you were afraid of water bombs?" Shawn asked.  
  
"Jeff's idea." Lita told them. "He likes to fill them with stuff like food dye and flour and rice, which really sting."  
  
"Okay, Lita, you're good to go, but take it easy. Those ribs are going to keep you out for a couple of weeks at least." The trainer told her.  
  
"Does that mean I can go back to the hotel?" She asked.  
  
"Yeah." The trainer told her, "You might want to try a bath in iced water. It'll probably bring some of the swelling down."  
  
"Sounds kinky." Jeff offered.  
  
Lita managed to smile, then reached out and hugged the younger man to her. "Thanks for being here little brother. You and 'Taker saved my ass tonight."  
  
"And you saved ours." He replied kissing her forehead. "Get some rest, and I'll stop by in the morning. I promise."  
  
"Love you brat." She told him as he followed the Undertaker and some of the others out of the room.  
  
"I'll bring you a surprise." Jeff told her, reappearing in the doorway. "Something a bit better than a Hostess cupcake. That was a pretty good jump."  
  
Lita blushed and smiled.  
  
*********  
  
The next morning on RAW Lita walked into the co-GM's office to find both Steve and Eric sitting there, looking like they were getting at each other's throats.  
  
"Good morning." She said loudly, breaking up their argument.  
  
"Lita, how are you feeling?" Steve asked, genuinely concerned.  
  
"Pissed off."  
  
"Any specific reason?" Eric asked, "Or is it just PMS?"  
  
As he sat on the couch, Lita planted one boot-clad foot on the vacant space of couch between his legs, not kicking him the testicles, but in a position to grind them into the frame of the couch.  
  
In her hands she gathered up fistfuls of his shirt collar. "You wanna hear my reason? I have barely slept, I'm in incredible amounts of pain, and oh yeah, you were the one who orchestrated all of this. Fact of the matter is, you got a piece of my ass, not literally, thank god because I actually find you incredibly repulsive, but still, you got your flunkies to beat down on me, and realistically, they hurt me." Releasing one side of his collar she fished a handful of papers out of her back pocket, handing them to Steve.  
  
"I'm out for two weeks. Next pay-per-view's in three."  
  
"You're not telling us anything we don't already know." Eric told her.  
  
"I want a shot at the women's title." Lita told him. "Did you know that?"  
  
"Uhh, Lita look, that's not..."  
  
"You need to start telling me what I need to here." Lita pressed him. "Before I start to get angry."  
  
"Lita, calm down please." Steve said mildly, gesturing to the leather sofa.  
  
She sat down quietly, crossing her legs and listening attentively.  
  
"That's better." Steve told her. "Now, you want a shot at the women's title at our next pay-per-view."  
  
"I think I'm entitled to one."  
  
"What makes you think that?" Eric challenged her.  
  
"Let's see..." She began sarcastically, "I've done nothing since my return but work my ass off. I've wrestled against Molly, Jazz, and Gail and beaten them all. I keep having to put up with little stings by Evolution, and you won't do anything about it and in all fairness to Molly, while the Title has been good for her, she is becoming a prima donna pain in the ass."  
  
"I'm still not hearing any reason why you should be given a title shot." Eric told her snidely.  
  
"You can have your match at the pay-per-view." Steve agreed, ignoring Eric.  
  
"You can't do that!" He told Steve. "50-50, remember? No, I want a better women's event."  
  
"So you're saying I'm not good enough?" Lita asked.  
  
"You said it, not me." Bischoff told her, his expression smug, like he thought he'd won.  
  
Lita nodded reasonably, and stood up to leave. "Okay. I'll call my lawyer, have him arrange the paperwork." She told both co-GM's, her hand on the doorknob.  
  
"What paperwork?" Eric asked her. "We're done here."  
  
"I'm going to sue you for breach of contract." Lita replied. "You really need to start reading the fine print."  
  
"What?" At once Bischoff stood, and began to look through a filing cabinet.  
  
"It'll be under 'D' for 'Dumas'." She offered helpfully, enjoying the look of aggression on his face.  
  
He slammed the document down on the desk, and began scanning the fine print. Stone Cold moved to stand beside him. "I remember that clause." He told Lita. "Here it is." Steve pointed it out to Bischoff.  
  
Eric's face paled as he read it. "Fine, you and Molly for the Women's Title."  
  
"Thank you." Lita replied sweetly. "I'll come in and sign the papers when you're ready."  
  
Once she'd left the office, Lita walked straight to Bill's locker room, and kissed him on the mouth, wrapping her arms around his neck, not caring that the room was full of people.  
  
"Any time you two want to come up for air would be great." Jeff told them sarcastically.  
  
"Bite me." Lita turned her head to look at him.  
  
"Someone's in a good mood." Trish observed.  
  
"Someone's not a nice girl." Lita replied.  
  
"What did you do?" Stacy Keibler asked her, a look of appraisal on her face.  
  
"I just screwed Eric Bischoff." She told them proudly. "And I didn't even have to touch him."  
  
"Not something you want to run around saying." Trish told her, while Lita laughed.  
  
"What exactly did you do?" Jeff asked.  
  
"I told him I was going to sue him. He wouldn't give me a match."  
  
"You can't wrestle." Bill reminded her.  
  
"I can in three weeks." Lita told him. "And I'm gonna kick Molly Holly's ass."  
  
"You got a title shot?" Stacy asked.  
  
"Technically, I extorted it, but yeah. Told you I'm not a nice girl."  
  
"Still have yet to change my mind." Bill told her.  
  
"I can think of, at the moment, ten ways to change your mind." She told him flirtatiously. "Eight of them are going to have to wait though."  
  
"Get a room guys." Jeff told them, averting his eyes.  
  
"This is my room." Bill answered him. "Seriously, Lita, are you going to be ready to wrestle in three weeks?"  
  
"I'm only out for two, and I'm going to be just fine." She smiled at him. "Besides, you're going to train with me."  
  
"I am?" He asked.  
  
"I can fly, I can hit people, but I think I need to become more of an all- rounder. Which is where I ask several people very nicely if they'll help me." Lita answered.  
  
"Who are you going to ask?" Jeff asked.  
  
"Bill, you of course, and Rob, and Shawn too."  
  
'Are we going to be asked nicely?" Rob teased, "And what would you need me for?"  
  
"I think I'd like a ladders match." She grinned. "Why not have two of the best training with me?"  
  
"You do know that Bischoff won't let you have a ladders match." Kevin told her. "He'll only give you the kind of matches he thinks you will lose. Especially you, you embarrass and humiliate him so often he's going to try and do the same thing to you."  
  
"Why would you think that I'm not afraid of ladders matches?" Lit asked him. "Because I'll jump off ropes, or put people through tables? The only things I like about ladders matches are the moves, and the cupcakes."  
  
Jeff smiled at that.  
  
For several seconds Lita stared off into space, listening intently.  
  
She made a silent gesture to the door, letting everyone know that someone was listening. "You know I just hope that the pay-per-view match is a mud- wrestling match or something. I'd even go for a bra and panties match. Something that would bring Molly down, because no one would want to see her in a bikini."  
  
"Or in her underwear at all." Stacy joked, playing along.  
  
"I don't think she'd be able to handle a match like that." Trish added. "I don't think she's that comfortable with the way she looks."  
  
"That's one of the reasons I want one." Lita answered, blatantly lying for the benefit of who ever was listening. "I'm happy to have one of those matches, and not just because I like the way I look. I've had them before so I know what to expect. I just hope it's not a hardcore match, or a ladders match, I'd go into a match like that worried that my neck wouldn't hold up. I don't know what to expect, I don't think this match is really one Bischoff wanted."  
  
"I think he'll try and screw you." Bill warned her, playing along, but being serious at the same time. "You'll just have to take whatever match is thrown at you."  
  
Standing beside the door, Shawn indicated that whoever had been listening was gone.  
  
"Reverse psychology?" Jeff asked.  
  
"I know that Bischoff won't play fair." Lita told him. "I'm just trying to stay on the level. Remind me to ask Tommy if he'll train me in hardcore."  
  
Trish shook her head. "You really want to be prepared for this don't you?"  
  
"I'm a workaholic when comes down to getting something I want." Lita answered. "You know that. Now it's just a matter of how far I'll go to get it." 


	19. Eyes on the Prize

A/N: Sorry it's so short, but the next chapter is longer, and for anyone who read my new wrestling fic 'My Immortal', I am writing (or have written most of) the second part, and have launched into the third part.  
  
As always, R&R, and if someone could email me after No Way Out and tell me the results of the Big Show vs. Kurt Angle vs. John Cena match I would love them forever because my mum (I'm an Aussie, so mum) won't let me get No Way Out because I didn't order Royal Rumble until about two days before the event.  
  
Thanks,  
  
Samantha.  
  
**********  
  
Eyes on the Prize.  
  
"I don't think I trust you." Lita told Tommy, standing in the middle of their practice ring, blindfolded.  
  
"We're all here." Bill reassured her, his voice coming from somewhere on her right.  
  
"The last time Molly was in a Hardcore match she like to poke her opponent in the eyes, to disorient them. We don't want you to end up clocked with a steel chair or something, so we're going to practice like this for a while." Tommy told her.  
  
"Okay." She replied uncertainly.  
  
"I'm going to take a few shots at you with my kendo stick, not hard ones, but I want you to try and block them."  
  
Lita nodded, listening carefully. She knew the sound a kendo stick made slicing through the air, sort of a whistle, like the air was being sliced.  
  
Swiftly she brought her kendo stick up at a cross angle to her body, blocking his shot at her midsection.  
  
"Good, see if you can keep going." Tommy told her, bring the stick up again and again, occasionally catching her off guard, but Lita never cried out when the stick impacted with her body, just steeled herself and prepared for the next shot.  
  
The shots came faster and faster, harder and harder, until Tommy was forced to really make an effort to try and impact with her body.  
  
"Be offensive." He coached, "You'll never win a match blind if you can't be offensive."  
  
At once Lita followed his instructions, not only listening for the whistle of the kendo stick, but also for the sound of his feather light footsteps on the heavily padded floor.  
  
Finally, both of the covered with sweat, and several red marks each where kendo sticks had caught them, Tommy called a halt to the training session.  
  
"You did good today." He praised her. "I didn't expect you to pick up on it so soon."  
  
"These things really pack a punch don't they." Lita replied, rubbing at one or two of the red marks on her belly.  
  
"We'll work on general form tomorrow." Tommy told her.  
  
"Does that mean I can throw myself into a hot bath now?" She asked.  
  
"Yeah, get some rest." He smiled. "And keep your eyes on the prize."  
  
"The prize is haunting me." She admitted, placing her borrowed kendo stick into it's case.  
  
"Good, don't let it go." 


	20. Three Rounds

Ahhh, another part out. Let me know what you think (there's more actual wrestling in this one).  
  
Samantha.  
  
Three Rounds.  
  
"Let's go through it again." Tommy advised her. "Thrust, parry, block, thrust, thrust, you can go for my feet and legs too if you like, even my head."  
  
Lita nodded as she worked, a film of sweat springing up on her brow as she smashed into him with the kendo stick, other apparatus littering the ring.  
  
Suddenly Tommy used his kendo stick to knock Lita's out of her hands.  
  
At once she threw herself over into a backward hand-spring so that she could reach a garbage can, snatching at it with both hands, and bringing it up to block Tommy's next blow. On her back she placed the can in front of her feet, then kicking it up into his face, taking the opportunity to get to her feet.  
  
"Top rope." Rob called out, "Swanton Bomb."  
  
Without hesitation Lita complied, landing heavily on Tommy. It took several seconds for the pair to recover, both getting to their feet, while Tommy reached out and grabbed her arm.  
  
Lita turned her body around, bringing her foot up to connect with his jaw, then turning to bring it up again as he continued to hold her arms. As she connected for the second time, Tommy let go, holding his jaw.  
  
She bounced on her feet as she landed. "Come on Lita, you can go harder than this." Shawn called out.  
  
As he spoke she dropped to the ground, sweeping Tommy's legs out from under him  
  
As Tommy lay on the ground stunned, Lita bounced back to her feet, taking down Rob Van Dam as he entered the ring to take over from Tommy, with a Twist of Fate.  
  
As Tommy got up, Lita jumped, making sure she got lots of elevation, pounding both of her feet into his face, making Tommy go back down like a ton of bricks. She landed, crouching, ready for anything else they threw at her.  
  
"Change it up!" Trish called, as Lita looked around, waiting for the next person to get in the ring.  
  
Bill charged her from behind, picking her up and preparing to drop her from the height of his up-stretched arms. As he did so, Lita prepared herself for the landing, throwing herself over to land on her back and avoid serious injury, though pain shot through her body on impact.  
  
"Good, what are you going to do now?" Shawn yelled.  
  
"Play your strengths." Jeff called, "He's bigger than you."  
  
Lita nodded, throwing herself at the ropes, then slid under him to get to the nearest turnbuckle.  
  
On the top rope she paused, watch to see what Bill was going to throw at her next. To try and get her down, he hit for the ropes, hoping that the motion would unbalance her, but instead, Lita stepped back, onto the steel post, retaining her balance and giving her the edge she needed to throw herself at Bill, catching him across the chest, and landing like that. Bill shoved her off, moving into position to Spear her.  
  
Anticipating his move, Lita threw herself forward into a handspring, catching the ropes and using the momentum to throw her body at him, catching him around the neck with her legs.  
  
At once he went for the Tombstone, but missed as she used her stomach muscles to pull herself up and begin an assault on his head, punching him repeatedly with her fists.  
  
"Nice work."  
  
Finally Bill managed to dump her, rather unceremoniously onto the mat, falling down to pin her. To everyone's surprise Lita just lay there and let him. Once Jeff had called the three count, Bill sat up, looking down at her, worried. "Are you okay? I didn't mean to go so hard."  
  
"I'm stuffed." She answered, looking up into everyone's worried faces. "I hope I don't have to go three rounds like this with Molly."  
  
"So you're not hurt?" Shawn asked.  
  
"My pride is wounded." She admitted. "It's not often I let anyone get the better of me."  
  
Trish dropped down onto the mat beside Lita, resting her head on the brunette's stomach. "Feel like some coffee?" She asked.  
  
"Hot bath, massage, and more sugar than the human body can handle." Lita murmured.  
  
"What do you think about us taking off for a few hours?" Trish asked her. "There's a spa down the road."  
  
"That sounds like my idea of the rest of my day." Lita replied.  
  
"What, covered in mud with green gack and cucumber on your eye lids?" Jeff asked.  
  
"Nope, spoiled and pandered to." Trish told him.  
  
"Peel me off the mat and I'm yours for the afternoon." Lita promised.  
  
Gently Goldberg and Jeff helped her up.  
  
"Maybe we went too far." Tommy told her.  
  
"If I can handle everything you guys throw at me, I know I'm bringing a title home." Lita told them. "Thank you for all your help."  
  
"You're welcome." Bill told her, leaning down to kiss her forehead.  
  
"I'm gonna take a shower, then I think Trish and I will head off to the spa, so I'll see you later on tonight."  
  
"Have fun." He told her.  
  
***********  
  
"This is relaxation!" Trish sighed, covered in a mud mask, sweet scented fumes purifying their skin and soothing their minds.  
  
"You said it." Lita answered dreamily, sounding half asleep.  
  
"How are things between you and Bill?"  
  
Lita opened her eyes. "They're good."  
  
"How good?" Trish shot her a cheeky glance.  
  
"He can keep up with me in the bedroom." Lita smirked. "We have a wide and varied sex life."  
  
"Sounds nice." The blonde woman's voice was wistful when she spoke.  
  
"We'll find you a guy." Lita promised.  
  
"Let's not think about guys now." Trish told her. "Remember when it was just us, against everyone else?"  
  
"I remember." Lita smiled at the memories. "It was nice, knowing that we always had each other."  
  
"We still do." Trish promised. "We'll always have each other."  
  
Lita reached out and squeezed Trish's hand. "Always." 


	21. A Match By Any Other Name

A/N: Rate this one a little bit higher, for sex scenes. Say MA15+, or PG13+.  
  
Thanks,  
  
Samantha.  
  
A Match by Any Other Name...  
  
"Lita." Eric called to her.  
  
At once she turned to face the annoying little rodent man. "Yes?"  
  
"Step into my office please." He waved her inside and then followed.  
  
Always wary of him, Lita perched on the edge of the desk, her feet lightly touching the floor, ready to propel her in any direction she wished to go.  
  
"Your match for Survivor Series." Bischoff began.  
  
"Where do I need to sign?" She asked promptly, interrupting him.  
  
"With this match I want to take women's wrestling to a whole new level, I want to show the world that our divas aren't just... girls. I want everyone to see your athleticism, and courage. I want them to see you and Molly as strong women who can take care of themselves." He began again.  
  
"So what sort of match did you have in mind?" Lita asked, hoping she already knew the answer.  
  
"A Hardcore match." Eric told her with sadistic pleasure. "You see you divas work just as hard as the men. In many ways, you're more athletic."  
  
"You want me to participate in a Hardcore match?" She managed to feign fear and uncertainly, while inside she was rejoicing.  
  
"Unless you want to back out. But if you don't sign that contract now, you won't be considered for another title shot until next year." Eric warned, not realizing Lita's happiness, that his words had just brought her peace of mind.  
  
"I guess I'll look at the contract then." Lita told him.  
  
"Look at it?" He asked, surprised.  
  
"Yeah, I'll read it over, and send a copy to my lawyer, make sure I'm satisfied, then I'll sign it." She told him. "I always make sure I read the fine print."  
  
Eric fumed. "Fine then. I would like it signed, sealed and delivered on my desk, by tomorrow night." He ordered. "Thank you." She replied, accepting the sheaf of papers he trust at her. "Any special time tomorrow night?"  
  
"No later than six o'clock p.m." He snapped.  
  
"Thank you for making this such a productive meeting." Lita told him, smiling as she left the office.  
  
*******  
  
"Could anything else go my way this week?" Lita asked aloud as she walked into Bill's locker room.  
  
"Depends, what's gone your way?" Triple H asked.  
  
Lita bit her lip, "I uh, I can't tell you that." She mumbled in response, simply because she didn't know what else she could say.  
  
Bill moved to stand beside her, sliding a arm around her slim waist, resting his fingers on her stomach muscles in a possessive gesture. "These guys were just leaving." He told her.  
  
"Since when did we start letting rabid dogs run around?" Lita asked, comfortable with Bill's arm around her waist for support.  
  
"Watch your mouth." Randy snarled at her.  
  
"Are you my mother? Are you gonna wash it out for me?" She taunted him.  
  
"I'll give you a different taste." He shot back.  
  
"Taste of what?" She smirked.  
  
"Of something only a real man could give you." Orton told her.  
  
"I'm really bored with this now." She sighed.  
  
"So how about you come and show me a good time?" Randy suggested.  
  
Lita placed her hands against Bill's chest, keeping him firmly in check. "How about the three of you get the fuck out now? I'm having a great week and now I wanna have sex with my boyfriend." She told the three men.  
  
Randy and Hunter looked shocked that she would be so forward about it.  
  
"You think guys are the only ones who talk about sex?" Lita asked. "God, you really are a different species."  
  
"Yeah, the Evolved kind." Ric shot at her.  
  
"Evolved in what way?" She asked, "Because all I can see are a pack of mother fuckers who are so far beneath what I expect in a human being, let alone what I expect in a man, it's incredible."  
  
Not knowing what else to say, the three men left. Lita followed them over to the door, closing it behind them and locking it.  
  
"And here I was thinking you only said it to get rid of them." Bill told her as she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down so that she could kiss him on the mouth.  
  
"So, what happened?" He asked between kisses.  
  
"I got a Hardcore match." She breathed into his mouth, reaching down to grab the hem of his shirt and pull it over his head, running her hands down his bare chest.  
  
He followed suit, pulling her jacket off, then unbuttoning her shirt and sliding it backwards down her arms, then moving his hands to her bra, pulling gently at the satin and lace lingerie, then moving down her body to unbutton her jeans, sliding them down her legs as she kicked them off.  
  
In seconds Lita lowed his pants, which joined the rest of their clothes in a pile on the floor. As he reached down, moving his hands over her butt, waist, hips and belly, she kissed him passionately with great need, at the same time clawing into his back and shoulder with her fingernails, eliciting moans of both pain and pleasure from him.  
  
Breathless, he broke the kiss, moving his mouth down over her neck and shoulders, dropping feather light butterfly kisses on her skin. Once more his hands found her breasts and the flimsy material covering them.  
  
He slid his fingers under the bottom seam, sliding them around to her back, moving to unclasp it, but finding no clasp to undo. "How do I get this off?" He asked, breathing heavily into her mouth.  
  
Still kissing him she smiled, letting go of his shoulders and bringing both hands up into the valley between her breasts. He watched in surprise as she deftly unclasped her bra from the front, sliding it down her arms, and dropping it on the floor. "Watch and learn."  
  
"God you're beautiful." He whispered, laying her down on the couch, and moving over her.  
  
She reached up, placing both hands on his skin, drawing him down to her. Her whole body shuddered as he lowered his head to her breasts, drawing one of her nipples into his mouth and rolling his tongue over it until Lita thought she was about to pass out. Then, abruptly, he pulled away, moving his mouth to her other nipple, repeating the process.  
  
She clawed at his shoulders like a cat, arching her back to meet his mouth, making a purring noise somewhere in the back of her throat. As he moved his head back to her mouth, capturing it with a single kiss, and allowing them both to float above everything, if only for several moments, before she wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling at his boxers.  
  
She let him go so that she could get his boxers off, while he slid her thong down her legs, flinging it across the room somewhere.  
  
As she felt him inside her, Lita locked her legs around his waist once more, pressing firey kisses all over his face and neck, biting gently at his ears as she rocked against him, knowing climax wasn't far away, for either of them. Feeling the same thing he began to thrust into her, grinding his hips against hers until they both fell over the edge.  
  
"Bill? You there?" A voice called from outside the door.  
  
"What do you want?" He yelled back.  
  
"We need to talk." There was no mistaking the Texan accent. Stone Cold Steve Austin.  
  
"Give me a minute." Bill yelled back, getting up and pulling on some sweatpants.  
  
Lita stood up and kissed him. "I'm going to take a shower. Get rid of him and come join me." She kissed him again before walking into the bathroom.  
  
Looking around at their discarded clothes, Bill scooped them up and shoved them in an empty locker, before walking over to let Steve in.  
  
"What can I do for you?"  
  
"I just wanted to discuss Lita's match with you, has she seen you about it?" Steve asked him.  
  
"Yeah, we... talked about it." Bill answered, seeing Lita's thong stuck on top of one of the open locker doors, and hoping that Steve wouldn't see it.  
  
"It's a Hardcore match Bill, did she tell you that?"  
  
"Yeah, we've been putting her through her paces since the doctor told her she could start training again." Bill told him. "Don't tell Eric though, Lita's enjoying the idea of having got one up on him."  
  
"Wouldn't dream of it." Steve told him, a grin on his face. "I just wanted to make sure she knew what she was getting into."  
  
"We've been putting her through the wringer."  
  
"We?" Steve asked.  
  
"Me, Shawn, Tommy, Jeff, Rob. She asked for our help right after she attacked Bischoff to get the match."  
  
"Clever girl." Steve mused. "She staged that conversation where she was telling everyone she wanted a mud wrestling match or bra and panties match, didn't she?"  
  
"We knew someone was listening at the door." Bill confirmed.  
  
"Nothing gets passed her, does it?" As Steve spoke again Lita walked out of the bathroom, wearing only a towel.  
  
"Oh sorry." Lita averted her eyes. "I didn't know that you were still here."  
  
"Maybe we can pick this up later." Steve told Bill, looking at the floor, to make sure he wasn't staring at a scantily clad Lita.  
  
"Look, why don't you two finish up, I'm just gonna get some clothes and get dressed in there." She gestured to the bathroom grabbing her bag and closing the door, reflexively locking the door behind her.  
  
The two men continued to speak for a while, before they heard a crash, breaking glass, and Lita curse loudly.  
  
"Lita, are you okay?" Bill called.  
  
"No. I fucking cut myself." She yelled back.  
  
At once Bill moved to open the bathroom door. "Lita, the door's locked, can you open it?" He called out after testing the handle.  
  
For several moments Lita tried to open the door, first with her good hand, which was covered with blood, then with both. Unable to twist it she grabbed the towel she had used, praying the knob that operated the lock would turn over.  
  
"I can't." She yelled back. "Everything's too slippery."  
  
"Use a towel or some dry clothes." Steve called out.  
  
"It doesn't work. I can't open it. There's too much blood and water."  
  
"What do we do, break the door down?" Bill asked Steve.  
  
"Lita, how much are you bleeding?" Steve yelled.  
  
"My bath towel is covered in it, so's the floor and the door too." She called back. "Can't you open the door from out there?" For the first time the two men heard a twinge of fear in her voice.  
  
"Lita, get away from the door." Steve called to her.  
  
"What's going on?" Shawn asked from behind them.  
  
"Lita, get away from the door." Bill called out again. "We're going to break it down, so get into the shower."  
  
"I can't." She yelled. "There's glass everywhere. I didn't bring any shoes in with me."  
  
"Lita, it's Shawn, are there any towels in there with you?" Shawn called, understanding what was going on. "If there is, spread them on the floor so that you can get into the shower, or somewhere else so that you won't get hurt."  
  
"Okay." He voice was shaky when she answered.  
  
"Guys, what's going on in here?" Trish asked, wondering why in hell the three men were standing at the bathroom door.  
  
"Go and get the doctor." Steve told her. The blonde woman's eyes widened with fear before she ran out of the room.  
  
"Okay Lita, here we go." Bill called to her. "One, two, three."  
  
Simultaneously the three men hurled themselves at the door, splintering wood and plaster.  
  
"Are you decent?" Shawn asked, not willing to look up.  
  
"Yeah." Lita's voice was breathless as she stared at the three men. "Just help me."  
  
Blood oozed from a cut on her head, as well as from her hand, with the room looking as though someone had poured red dye everywhere.  
  
"Holy hell." Steve said looking around. Bill moved to her side, scooping her up in his arms, and carrying her out onto the couch, Shawn moved to apply pressure to the cut on her hand with a towel already soaked red.  
  
Bill lifted another one to the cut on her head, applying pressure as best he could, trying not to hurt her any more.  
  
As they sat there like that Trish and the doctor appeared, with the doctor pushing Shawn away to put a tourniquet on Lita's lower arm.  
  
"It's okay." Bill reassured her. "It's gonna be okay."  
  
"Tell me that when I feel a little less light headed." She mumbled.  
  
"Someone call the paramedics." The doctor ordered. "We need to get her to a hospital."  
  
By the time the EMT's were loading her into the back of the ambulance Lita was barely coherent, almost unaware of what was going on around her. 


	22. Transfusions

Transfusions.  
  
"Lita?" A voice called to her. "Lita, are you okay?"  
  
She roused herself from sleep to answer them, knowing that somehow, this was important.  
  
"Mmm." She mumbled, opening her eyes, startled by the bright lights. "I feel like shit."  
  
"Nice hear you talking again."  
  
She looked up at the speaker. "I don't know you."  
  
"I'm Dr. Abrams." The man introduced himself. "You're going to be okay."  
  
"Tell that to the truck." She mumbled.  
  
"Lita?" Bill asked, squeezing her hand.  
  
"I was wondering where you'd gotten to." She told him. "You just disappeared."  
  
"I've been with you the whole time." He promised. "You passed out."  
  
"Did I?" Her voice was uncertain.  
  
"Do you remember what happened in the bathroom?" Steve asked, looming over her.  
  
"In the bathroom? She repeated.  
  
"You went to take a shower." Bill reminded her. "And Steve and I were talking when you got out, so you went back in there to get changed."  
  
"I slipped. The tiles were slippery and I was barefoot, so I slipped. I put my hand out to try and stop myself from going through the shower screen, but I went through anyway. I hit my head." She looked up at them. "The lock got slippery and I couldn't get out."  
  
"Good girl." The doctor told her. "I don't think you're much the worse for wear."  
  
She sat up suddenly, the whole room swimming before her eyes. "Can I go home now?"  
  
"Lita, honey you're still having a blood transfusion." Trish's voice was soft, gentle. "You cut yourself pretty badly, lost a lot of blood."  
  
Lita closed her eyes for a moment, remembering. "There was blood everywhere."  
  
"It's okay." Bill reassured her. "You're going to be fine."  
  
"I feel really sleepy." She mumbled, resting her head back down on the pillows.  
  
"Get some sleep then." He told her, bending down to kiss her forehead, avoiding the enormous bump on her head.  
  
"Love you." She said softly.  
  
"I love you too," Bill answered, though she was already asleep.  
  
**********  
  
The next morning Bill walked into Lita's hospital room to find her sitting up in bed, her arms folded, arguing with Dr. Abrams and a nurse.  
  
"Morning sunshine." He told her, moving to kiss her. "What's going on?"  
  
"They want to keep me here." Lita told him. "I'm fine now."  
  
"Can't she come home with me?" Bill asked them.  
  
"I want her to take three days off work, just three days to recuperate in." Dr. Abrams told him.  
  
"Done, can't I just get her out of here now, she hates hospitals." Bill told him.  
  
"I'll prescribe you something for the pain." The doctor relented, "And you'll have to have the dressings on you hand changed daily, is there someone who can do that for you?"  
  
"Our team doctor, Jack can do it." Bill told him. "I'll keep a close eye on her too."  
  
"All right then. Nurse Thompson here will bring you Ms. Dumas' release papers."  
  
************  
  
Soon after Bill was helping Lita out of the car at the arena.  
  
"I can do it." She insisted.  
  
"I know you can, but you're not supposed to." He answered, taking her overnight bag from the back seat and stowing her medication inside. "Come on, let's get you resting."  
  
"Lita?" Steve asked as he walked out of his office. "Why aren't you still in the hospital?"  
  
"I promised the doctor that she'd rest for three days." Bill told him.  
  
"Bite me." Lita muttered.  
  
"What was that?" Bill asked, knowing exactly what she'd said.  
  
"I said, 'bite me'." She repeated.  
  
"Come on, let's get you settled."  
  
"Please." She said to him. "I want to get some foundation on this bruise before everyone sees it."  
  
Both men smiled.  
  
"This isn't fair." Lita said loudly. "All I did was cut my fucking hand, on the fucking shower screen and now the fucking doctor tells me I have to fucking well take it easy!"  
  
"What's fucking?" Chris Jericho asked, "Or do I not want to know."  
  
"My hand, the shower screen, the doctor and resting." Lita told him, glaring at Bill and Trish.  
  
"Sometimes I do not know what goes on in women's heads." Chris told them.  
  
"Do you ever?" Trish asked.  
  
"What sort of question is that?" He asked, offended.  
  
"What am I thinking now?" Trish asked him pointedly.  
  
"You are thinking, 'god what do I have to do to get the one and only Chris Jericho, King of the World, King of Bling Bling, to ask me out tonight.'" Chris told her.  
  
Lita laughed.  
  
"Are you asking me out?" Trish asked him.  
  
"I honestly don't know." He replied.  
  
"Why don't the two of you use our dinner reservations tonight." Lita suggested. "We were supposed to be going out with Scott and Stacy, so there's two spots open on our reservation, because I have to rest.."  
  
"We'll leave it to you two to decide." Bill told them as he and Lita walked off.  
  
"Wait on!" Chris called. "Where's the reservation?"  
  
"Casa Dia." Lita told him. "Spanish food. It's a really great restaurant." 


	23. Title Match

Title Match.  
  
A/N: UPDATED. WAHOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
I think I temporarily went insane, but don't worry, I think I'm sane again.  
  
Anywho, read, review, enjoy,  
  
Samantha  
  
****************  
  
"First to the ring we have the current Women's Champion, Molly Holly!" Lillian announced as Molly walked down to the ring, the championship belt buckled around her waist. Furious at both the match, and her opponent, Molly glowered, turning to look up at the ramp, waiting.  
  
'She's like a lost flower  
  
Growing up through a crack  
  
In the bustling sidewalk.  
  
Running like a river so sad  
  
So hey where we going?  
  
Tell me where we've gone?  
  
Was there love and fury  
  
Energy and passion?'  
  
Lita took her time walking down to the ring, pausing to slap hands with fans, her left hand still bandaged to provide her stitches with some protection, but she still hi-5ed the crowd controllers, then walked up the steps, watching closely as the referee kept Molly on the other side of the ring.  
  
She ignored Molly, instead standing on the turn-buckle and waving her hands to the fans.  
  
Finally Lita walked to the center of the ring, waiting for the referee to raise the belt, and the bell to ring.  
  
Molly jumped forwards at once, moving to grab her by the hair, instead finding herself tossed across the ring.  
  
As Molly lay for a moment, stunned, Lita took advantage of it, sliding out of the ring to grab whatever was underneath it. She pulled out several things, leaving them littered across the matting at ringside, and taking a kendo stick. Molly stood up just as Lita was about to slide back into the ring.  
  
In Bill's locker room everyone watched the match, the atmosphere tense.  
  
"Come on Lita," Jeff mumbled, "What are you going to do?"  
  
"Use what you've got." Tommy hissed. "Come on girl."  
  
Grimly Lita picked up the trash can, still holding onto the kendo stick, and hurled it up at Molly's head, where it connected, the impact knocking the woman off her feet. Lita slid back into the ring, holding the kendo stick casually, like an extension of her existing arm.  
  
Molly used the ropes to pull herself to her feet. She hadn't expected Lita to be forward about this match. Eric had assured her that the tall brunette was apprehensive about participating in a hardcore match.  
  
As moved, Lita bent fowards into a handspring, locking her legs around Molly's neck and giving her Trish's 'Stratusfaction' from a standing position in the middle of the ring. Straight away she drove an elbow down over Molly's heart, then went for a cover, getting a two count.  
  
As Molly got up she managed to rake her fingers across Lita's face, poking her in the eyes, making them both water.  
  
Lita staggered for a moment as everything went blurry, then she paused for a second, listening, registering two people stand near her.  
  
One smelled of aftershave. 'Not Molly.' She thought, bringing her kendo stick, still firmly in her grasp, up into where she imagined Molly's midsection to be. The other woman groaned as she went down.  
  
Lita seized the opportunity to wipe her hand across her eyes, brushing all the watery fluid from them, clearing her vision.  
  
From the mat, Molly swung a length of chain up at her, which Lita barely managed to dodge. Molly swung it again, this time aiming for Lita's feet. Lita jumped as if the chain was a skipping rope, then pounced on the end of it, pinning the end of the chain to the mat with both feet.  
  
Lita laid the kendo stick across Molly's shoulders, watching the smaller woman hiss in pain, before staggering to her feet. With a smile of satisfaction, Lita laid the Twist of Fate on her, watching as Molly went down again, ever alert that this was a no disqualification match, and that someone could come running out to help Molly whenever they chose. Dragging the Woman's Champion to her feet, Lita proceeded to perform a Belly-to- Belly suplex on her, then climbed the ropes to show everyone a Top Rope Hurricanrana, landing cleanly on Molly, and pulling her leg up, going for the pin.  
  
"One, two..." Molly kicked out just before the referee could make it a three count, and Lita, for some reason didn't look at all fazed.  
  
Once Molly was back on her feet, she managed to catch Lita by the arm, propelling her into the ropes to clothesline her as she bounced back. Instead of bouncing back, Lita managed to copy Rey Mysterio's signature move, the 619, grabbing hold of the top and second ropes, swinging herself around to introduce both her feet into Molly's stomach and solar plexus, knocking the wind out of her.  
  
As the two women fought Lita displayed moves by many other superstars, each one perfected, from RVD's Five-star Frog Splash, to Jeff's Hardy's Poetry in Motion, Chris Jericho's Lionsault, and Trish Stratus' Bulldog.  
  
The crowd both at ringside, and in the back watched amazed, both at Molly's detemination to keep the Women's Championship, and at Lita's daring, tenacity, and willingness to risk everything in order to get the pin on Molly.  
  
Almost insane with fatigue and rage at the thought that Lita might actually take her title Molly rushed at the taller diva, only to recieve Shawn Michaels' patent Sweet Chin Music. Gasping, and reeling, the Woman's Champion crawled, trying her best to get away from Lita., before Lita could grab her.  
  
A look of grim determination on her face, Lita hoisted the downed woman to her feet, placing one of the woman's arms over her back, grabbing hold of the woman's pants and hoisting her up in the air.  
  
The crowd roared as she Jackhammered the woman's champion into the mat, taking the pin immediately.  
  
'ONE... TWO... THREE!" The audience counted in time with the referee.  
  
Lita stood, allowing the referee to raise her arm, then yanking it away as Gail Kim and Jazz raced out, both with the intention of knocking her roof in.  
  
As they slid into the ring, Lita went to work on both of them, dropping Gail with a Litabomb, and Jazz with a modified version of the Stone Cold Stunner.  
  
She punched the air, rousing the crowd, making them all scream at the tops of their lungs, though everyone fell silent for a moment as Stone Cold Steve Austin's music began to play through the speakers.  
  
"Complete and utter carnage. I like it." He looked up at her, once he'd surveyed the bodies. "You just won the Women's Championship." He told her. "It's been a long time in coming. How does it feel?"  
  
"Great." She said into the microphone, a little breathless. "It feels great, and there's a lot of people I should thank for bringing me here, they all know who they are, but especially thanks to Tommy Dreamer, one of my best buds, Jeff Hardy, couldn't have done it without you little brother, you, Goldberg, I love you, Shawn Michaels, RVD, and especially Trish Stratus, and my mom."  
  
As she finished speaking Stone Cold took the Championship belt from the referee and laid it in her arms. "Well done." He told her, then offered her the microphone.  
  
"I know I already thanked a lot of people." Lita began, "But there's someone else I would like to thank, and that's my little sister Elka. She was killed recently the a terrorist attack in Miami, so this time, and every other time I carry this belt, or any other, it's for my little sister, and for everyone else who was killed at that nightclub in Miami. I love you Elka, this one's for you!" Lita raised the Women's Championship belt in the air, as the crowd cheered, then the pair watched as many of the spectators stood from their seats, and bowed their heads respectfully, allowing for a moment's silence.  
  
As the crowd became more animated after the moment of silence, Stone Cold had 'some cold ones' thrown into the ring. Tossing two to Lita, he opened two of his own, grinning madly as they 'clinked' cans, and proceeded to, as Stone Cold put it 'drink some damn beer'.  
  
"JR, did you see that! Did you see those moves?" King babbled into his microphone, watching as Lita and Stone Cold shared a couple of beers in the ring.  
  
"I did." JR answered, significantly calmer than King. "Lita's a strong young woman, congratulations to her. She's had a long road back. We can all be very proud of her." 


	24. Karaoke

Karaoke  
  
"Okay Lita, your turn now." Steve told her as Rob Van Dam sat back down having finished his number, a interesting rendition of 'Bad to The Bone.'  
  
"I don't sing in public very often." She told him, watching as he pulled a coin out of his pocket.  
  
"Here we go," Steve began. "Heads, you sing a song you choose, tails, I'll pick the song." He flipped the coin in the air, catching it on his palm.  
  
"Don't bother." Lita told him, slapping her hand down onto his palm so that no one could tell what the coin toss result was. "I'll go sing."  
  
Bill and Shawn cheered her on as she walked up to the music master to look through the tracks they had. Every few seconds she turned to check on everyone, noticing when Eric Bischoff, Hunter, Ric Flair, Randy Orton and the rest of his cronies walked in.  
  
Taking a deep breath, Lita walked onto the stage. "I'm gonna start singing in a moment, but, this one is for all the people out there who have tried to screw me, either personally or professionally, there seems to be a lot of them these days."  
  
Music began to play through the speakers once she'd finished speaking, and she looked triumphantly down at Eric Bischoff.  
  
"After all you put me through  
  
You'd think I'd despise you  
  
But in the end, I want to thank you  
  
Because you made me that much stronger  
  
Well I thought I knew you  
  
Thinking that you were true  
  
I guess I couldn't trust  
  
Called your bluff, time is up  
  
'Cause I've had enough  
  
You were there by my side  
  
Always down for the ride  
  
But your joy ride just came down in flames  
  
'Cause your greed sold me out in shame, mmhmm  
  
After all of the stealing and cheating  
  
You probably think that I hold resentment for you  
  
But, uh uh,  
  
You're wrong  
  
'Cause if it weren't for all that you tried to do  
  
I wouldn't know just how capable I am to pull through  
  
So I wanna say thank you.  
  
'Cause it makes me that much stronger  
  
Makes me work a little bit harder  
  
Makes me that much wiser  
  
So thanks for making me a fighter  
  
Made me learn a little bit faster  
  
Made my skin a little bit thicker  
  
Makes me that much smarter  
  
So thanks for making me a fighter  
  
Ohh, ohh, ohh, ohhh, ohh yeah ah uh huh  
  
Never thought it could be  
  
All of your backstabbing  
  
Just so you could cash in  
  
On a good thing before I realized your game  
  
I heard you're going round  
  
Playing the victim now  
  
But don't even begin  
  
Feeling I'm the one to blame  
  
'Cause you dug your own grave  
  
After all of the fights and the lies  
  
Yes you wanted to harm me  
  
But that won't work anymore  
  
Uh uh, no more, oh no, it's over  
  
'Cause if it wasn't for all of your torture  
  
I wouldn't know how to be this way now  
  
And never back down  
  
So I wanna say thank you  
  
'Cause it makes me that much stronger  
  
Makes me work a little bit harder  
  
Makes me that much wiser  
  
So thanks for making me a fighter  
  
Made me learn a little bit faster  
  
Made my skin a little bit thicker  
  
Makes me that much smarter  
  
So thanks for making me a fighter  
  
How could this man I thought I knew  
  
Turn out to be unjust, so cruel  
  
Could only see the good in you  
  
Pretended not to see the truth  
  
You tried to hide your lies, disguise yourself  
  
Through living in denial  
  
But in the end you'll see  
  
YOU WON'T STOP ME  
  
I am a fighter and I  
  
I ain't gonna stop  
  
There is no turning back  
  
I've had enough  
  
'Cause it makes me that much stronger  
  
Makes me work a little bit harder  
  
Makes me that much wiser  
  
So thanks for making me a fighter  
  
Made me learn a little bit faster  
  
Made my skin a little bit thicker  
  
Makes me that much smarter  
  
So thanks for making me a fighter  
  
You thought I would forget  
  
But I, I remember  
  
I remember  
  
I remember  
  
Thought I would forget  
  
But I, I remember  
  
I remember  
  
I remember  
  
Makes me that much stronger  
  
Makes me work a little bit harder  
  
Makes me that much wiser  
  
So thanks for making me a fighter  
  
Made me learn a little bit faster  
  
Made my skin a little bit thicker  
  
Makes me that much smarter  
  
So thanks for making me a fighter.'  
  
With satisfaction, Lita smiled at Eric, not an 'I'm really glad to see you' smile, but one that said quite plainly, 'I've got you now.'  
  
The audience meanwhile had gotten to its feet, and was screaming out 'encore, encore.' She breathed out, once more relaxed on the stage. "You really want me to sing again?" Lita asked the crowd.  
  
Her question was answered with cheers, especially loud ones coming from the corner in the room where everyone she'd come with were sitting. "Okay then, give me a second to find another song." She told them, taking the catalogue the music manager passed her. With everyone watching her, Lita picked out another song.  
  
While the manager set the karaoke machine, Lita spoke to the crowd. "Last song, it was for everyone who's tried to screw me. But this song is for someone else. This is saying 'I'm sorry I've been a high-maintenance pain in the ass lately, and I love you.'"  
  
"I didn't hear you leave  
  
I wonder how am I still here  
  
And I don't wanna move a thing  
  
It might change my memory  
  
Oh I am what I am  
  
I do what I want  
  
But I can't hide  
  
And I won't go  
  
I won't sleep  
  
I can't breathe  
  
Until you're resting here with me  
  
I won't leave  
  
I can't hide  
  
I cannot be  
  
Until you're resting here with me  
  
I don't want to call my friends  
  
They might wake me from this dream  
  
And I can't leave this bed  
  
And risk forgetting all that's been  
  
Oh I am what I am  
  
I'll do what I want  
  
But I can't hide  
  
And I won't go  
  
I won't sleep  
  
And I can't breathe  
  
Until you're resting here with me  
  
And I won't leave  
  
And I can't hide  
  
I cannot be  
  
Until you're resting here with me  
  
And I won't go  
  
And I won't sleep  
  
And I can't breathe  
  
Until you're resting here with me  
  
And I won't leave  
  
And I can't hide  
  
I cannot be  
  
Until you're resting here with me  
  
Oh I am what I am  
  
I'll do what I want  
  
But I can't hide  
  
And I won't go  
  
I won't sleep  
  
And I can't breathe  
  
Until you're resting here with me  
  
And I won't leave  
  
And I can't hide  
  
I cannot be  
  
Until you're resting here with me  
  
And I won't go  
  
And I won't sleep  
  
And I can't breathe  
  
Until you're resting here with me  
  
And I won't leave  
  
And I can't hide  
  
I cannot be  
  
Until you're resting here with me."  
  
Again the audience came alive, cheering and cat calling. "Thanks everyone." Lita said into the microphone. "Good night." With those words she passed the microphone to the music manager and walked back to the table.  
  
"Girl you need to sing more often." Shawn told her. "Everyone loves your voice."  
  
"I'm out guys." She told them, picking up her jacket.  
  
"Come on Lita, you just won a title belt, a Championship belt." Rob told her. "You need to celebrate."  
  
"Just did. Tired now." She answered, going through her purse.  
  
"Do you want me to drive you back to the hotel?" Bill asked, not looking concerned like the others, he had a feeling he knew what she was going to do.  
  
"No, I think I'll take a cab." She shrugged. "I might go for a walk before I head off to bed anyway."  
  
"Don't go out alone." Steve told her firmly. "You never know what kind of crazies you'll find out there."  
  
"Promise I'll stay safe." Lita reassured him. "Night guys."  
  
**********  
  
In the cool night air Lita sat up on the decking on the top floor of the hotel, a lit candle sitting in front of her, staring up at the stars, the Women's Championship belt in her lap.  
  
"I thought I might find you up here." She turned to see Bill standing near the door.  
  
"Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with our friends, but I just felt like I needed some space."  
  
"That's understandable." He sat down next to her. "The candle's for Elka, right?"  
  
"I want for her to be able to enjoy this night with me, for now." She said softly. "Me, Elka's candle, and the stars."  
  
"Do you want me to go?" Bill asked.  
  
"No." Lita curled up against him. "I think I want to go back to our room, and get some sleep. I can look up at the stars again tomorrow night. It's part of their beauty, they're always there, they never go out." 


	25. Something strange

A/N: Another part!!!!!  
  
Special thanks to huntersgirl, Latisha C, Devina1980, kandiland, xtremediva, and Sweet-Steffie for reviewing so constantly for me. I really appreciate your feedback guys.  
  
Happy reading,  
  
Samantha.  
  
*********  
  
Several months later.  
  
"Lita, sweetie are you okay?" Trish called into the bathroom.  
  
"Crappy." Lita called back, flushing the toilet, and rinsing her mouth with water from the bathroom faucet.  
  
She walked back into the room and dropped down onto the bed. "I have never felt so crappy in all of my life."  
  
"You don't look great." Trish told her. "Are you sure you don't want me to stay a few extra days and take care of you?"  
  
"No, I'll be fine, it's just stomach flu." Lita told her.  
  
"As long as you're sure." Trish said, remaining skeptical. "I'm kinda worried about leaving you here all by yourself, especially when Bill's at Shawn's for the week."  
  
"I'll be fine, it's just a little stomach flu. Take care." Lita told her as the taxi pulled into the driveway.  
  
"I will. See a doctor." Trish told her, reaching out to hug her friend.  
  
"Have a safe flight." Lita waved as the car pulled away.  
  
***************  
  
Several days later Lita walked into the arena where RAW would be held in just a few days time.  
  
"Hey Lita." RVD greeted her, walking down the hall with Tommy Dreamer.  
  
"Hey guys. Have you see Bill around yet?" She asked.  
  
"Yeah, he's around here somewhere. You might want to stop by the co-GM's office first before you go looking for him though. Austin was looking for you." Tommy told her  
  
"Thanks Tommy." She told her.  
  
"Are you all right?" Rob asked. "You don't look so great."  
  
"Stomach flu." She told him. "I'm still recovering."  
  
"Take it easy then." He patted her on the back and the pair kept walking.  
  
Changing direction Lita walked first to the bathroom to freshen up, then to Austin and Bischoff's office, knocking lightly on the door before walking in.  
  
"Lita," Steve greeted her. "Good you could make it."  
  
"Everyone was told to be here at two, you're more that forty minutes late." Bischoff told her.  
  
"My apologies to everyone." She said, though her heart wasn't in it.  
  
Steve and Trish both gave her strange looks, but said nothing.  
  
"You ladies are in a six woman tag team match on Monday night. We need you to sign the contracts." Bischoff said proudly. "Jazz, Molly Holly and Gail Kim versus Trish Stratus, Ivory and Lita."  
  
One by one the women moved to sign the contract. Once Trish signed, Bischoff looked pointedly at Lita. "Are you going to keep us waiting again?"  
  
"I'm not signing." She said quietly. "I can't wrestle this week. I'm not fit enough."  
  
"What's wrong with you?" Bischoff asked.  
  
Lita simply stared at him, remaining defiantly silent.  
  
"Lita, sign the damn contract." Bischoff said again.  
  
"Can't you see she's not well?" Trish asked. "Leave her alone!"  
  
"She's right." Ivory said. "It's pretty clear she's sick."  
  
"So who's going to fill the spot then?" Bischoff fumed.  
  
"Try Jacqueline." Lita said. "I think you'll find she'd be willing to participate."  
  
"I'm still waiting for Lita to tell why the hell she can't wrestle." Bischoff said to the two women defending her.  
  
"Steve, could I please talk to you?" Lita asked quietly.  
  
"Sure." He answered. Lita looked pointedly at everyone else. "Do you people think you could..." Steve waved his hand at everyone, watching as the other divas cleared the room. Bischoff however didn't move. "Eric, do you think you could get lost for a bit?" Steve asked his counter-part.  
  
"This is my office too." Eric told him.  
  
"And it's mine as well, now go, I have business to discuss." Stone Cold threatened him, watching as Bischoff scuttled out of the room.  
  
"So sit," Steve invited her. "Tell me what's going on."  
  
"I can't wrestle on Monday night because..." She began uncertainly.  
  
"Lita, just spit it out. If you tell me what's going on I can help you."  
  
"I'm pregnant." She blurted out. "My ob-gyn doesn't want me to wrestle anymore, she says it's not safe for me to. I don't want Bischoff or anyone else to know until I get the chance to tell Bill. I haven't seen him all week and I didn't want to tell him over the phone."  
  
Steve positively beamed at her. "That's great news. That's really great news, Lita. Congratulations."  
  
She smiled, resting her head on her hand. "It's been a really strange week. I go to the doctor's for stomach flu, and I get told I'm pregnant, I can't work and..."  
  
"Just relax." Steve told her. "Why don't you come with me now, we'll go and find Bill and then you two can have a talk."  
  
"Yeah." She nodded, standing up. "I was going to do that when I got here."  
  
"Shawn, have you seen Bill?" Steve asked the 'Heartbreak Kid' Shawn Michaels.  
  
"Yeah, he's in his dressing room." Shawn called back, gesturing down the hall.  
  
Lita turned to Steve. "Thanks, for getting Eric off my back, and for listening."  
  
"No problem. Now get in there and make us both proud." He told her.  
  
"Thanks." She said again, before walking over to the door with the sign 'GOLDBERG' on it, knocked lightly, then walked in.  
  
*************  
  
"Hey, Linda?" Steve spoke into the phone once he was back in his office. "I want to run something by you. I've just had Lita come to me and tell me that her specialist says she can't wrestle for seven or so months, and I was just..." As Steve spoke on the phone he didn't realize that someone was standing at the door, listening to his side of the conversation.  
  
"Lita, hey. Rob told me you were here somewhere." Bill greeted her, leaning down to kiss her.  
  
"Yeah, I had to go and see Austin and Bischoff about my match." She answered, kissing him back.  
  
"Who are you wrestling?"  
  
"No one." She answered.  
  
Bill looked at her curiously. "Is everything all right?"  
  
"Sit down with me." Lita gestured to the couch, curling up with him wrapping his arms around her.  
  
"What's going on?" He asked again, as she rested her head against his shoulder.  
  
"I haven't been feeling really great. Pretty crappy actually."  
  
"Have you seen a doctor? It might just be a bug or something going around." Bill suggested.  
  
"I saw a doctor. I don't have a virus, or the stomach flu." She said softly.  
  
"Then what's wrong with you? Are they doing tests?" He asked, worried.  
  
"The doctor only needed to do one test, Bill, and I've already got the results back. I'm pregnant." She sat quietly, waiting for his reaction.  
  
"You're pregnant?" He echoed. "Lita that's great! Wait until we tell the others."  
  
"So you're happy about it?" She asked.  
  
"Happy? Lita you just made my year, my life. We're having a baby, you have our child growing inside of you. I'm gonna be a daddy." He kissed her, cradling her body against his, one of his hands finding the flat of her stomach. "When's our baby due?"  
  
"Not for about seven and a half months, the beginning of October."  
  
"Lita, I am just... I love you so much." He kissed her again, and for a few moments they lost themselves in each other, until they were roused by one of the backstage people, who was calling out for everyone to assemble in the open area.  
  
"Let's go!" Bill urged her.  
  
"Yeah, I think I'm just gonna..." She gestured to the bathroom, before racing off to be sick again.  
  
Several moments later she flushed the toilet and re-emerged.  
  
"Are you okay?" He asked worriedly.  
  
"Yeah. These morning sickness tablets aren't working." Lita told him.  
  
"We'll see if we can get you some different ones." Bill promised.  
  
************  
  
"Did you hear about Lita?" Jericho asked Christian as they walked to the meeting. "I heard Steve talking to Linda McMahon on the phone. Her specialist says she can't wrestle for seven or so months."  
  
"Dude that sucks." Christian answered. "It's a shame, she's always been nice to me, sort of."  
  
"Who's always nice to you, and what sucks?" Rob Van Dam asked, overhearing Christian's comments.  
  
"Lita." Jericho filled him in. "Her neck's gone again and she can't wrestle for ages."  
  
"That's bad." Rob told them. "Probably why she was so strange when I saw her earlier. She told Tommy and I that she had stomach flu."  
  
"She must be taking it pretty hard." Tommy added. "She's not long back."  
  
"Lita?" D-Von Dudley asked.  
  
"Yeah, she's out again. He neck's playing up." Rob told him.  
  
"Poor thing. I hope her career's not over because of this." Bubba Ray said shaking his head, as they entered the meeting room, talking quietly amongst each other.  
  
*************  
  
Bill and Lita arrived a little after everyone else.  
  
"Lita!" Bischoff pounced on her. "Are you intending to be late to everything? Where the hell were you?"  
  
"Being sick to my stomach." She answered him, exhibiting some of her usual fire and tenacity. "And for once, it wasn't because of you."  
  
Most of the superstars looked on in horror as Bischoff sized her up.  
  
"Maybe I should have told you earlier." Stone Cold interrupted before Eric could go off on a tangent. "I gave Lita permission to be late. She was taking care of something for me."  
  
Eric's eyes cooled. "That's fine. She's suspended from wrestling for two weeks."  
  
"Was that supposed to make me upset?" Lita asked him. "I can't wrestle anyway, my specialist won't let me."  
  
"I'll ask for the last time then, why?" Bischoff snapped.  
  
"Because... I'll be back." Without another word Lita darted out of the room, one hand on her stomach. Trish moved to go after her, but Bill laid a hand on her shoulder. "Just let her be for now. She'll be back in a minute."  
  
************  
  
"What the hell is going on here?" Eric asked aloud.  
  
"I'm sure she'll tell you when she gets back." Stone Cold told him.  
  
Several moments later Lita reappeared, looking tired and weak, her face pale and drawn, her hair twisted up and held in place by a hair clip, though the style was messy. "Sorry, I'm really having a crappy day."  
  
"Keep it up and you'll be having a really crappy day." Bischoff muttered.  
  
"Fuck you too." She muttered back, taking a seat next to Bill on a table, leaning against him comfortably, while he wrapped his arms around her, rocking her gently in an attempt to make her feel better. She pulled her hair clip out, massaging her skull with her fingers for a moment.  
  
"You okay?" Bill asked softly.  
  
"I feel like crap, and I have a wicked headache." She answered, leaning back into his embrace, resting her head in the crook of his neck.  
  
"Lita, are you gonna tell everyone what's going on?" Steve asked. "Bill?"  
  
"I'm not allowed to wrestle for seven and a half months minimum." Lita said aloud.  
  
"Oh god, it's your neck isn't it?" Trish asked, reaching out to hug her friend, tears already trickling down her cheeks.  
  
Across the room Stacy Keibler, Lillian and Terri were also in tears, while close friends like Rob Van Dam, Tommy Dreamer and the Dudleyz looked completely crushed.  
  
"Guys, no, you don't understand." She tried to explain.  
  
"When are you going back to Florida?" Trish sobbed into her shoulder.  
  
"We'll really miss you Li." Tommy called out. "I'll even remember to write and call you this time."  
  
"Would you all just shut up and listen to what I have to say? You've taken this the wrong way, and got it all wrong, completely wrong. My neck is fine." She tried again.  
  
"You don't have to be brave for us." Lillian whimpered.  
  
"I don't understand." Shawn said to her.  
  
"But your specialist said..." Stacy began.  
  
"There is more than one kind of specialist doctor around." Lita told them, and then smiled. "Don't any of you watch E.R.?"  
  
"You're scaring us." Tommy told her, his face worried before, now white with fear.  
  
Lita reached up to whisper something in Bill's ear, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.  
  
"Lita's trying to tell you all that we're going to have a baby." Bill told everyone.  
  
"A baby?" Stacy repeated.  
  
"What about what the specialist said?" Rob asked.  
  
"My obstetrician, who is a specialist who works with pregnant women and delivers babies, told me I can't wrestle anymore. Or at least not until October."  
  
"Congratulations!" Trish exclaimed, hugging her friend. "I'm so proud of you. And you too Bill."  
  
Bill wrapped his arm protectively around Lita to ward off anyone who might try to upset her, while all of the other superstars offered hugs and congratulations.  
  
"It's not very often babies are born in the WWE." Stone Cold said when everyone had quietened down. "I fact I can't recall it ever happening. So, I'm guessing you all know what this calls for. We have to wet the baby's head."  
  
Lita laughed. "You know Steve, that's normally done when the baby's born."  
  
"Really? No kidding. We'll do it then too. Bring in some damn beer!"  
  
In seconds almost everyone in the room had a can of beer in their hand. "Now Lita, I know that you must be pretty upset, you can't wrestle, you can't drink, can't keep your breakfast down. So you must be standing there, thinking something's gotta give. You don't wanna just go home to Florida and put your feet up for seven or so months. You wanna do something. So I talked to Linda McMahon, and I talked to Vince McMahon, hell I even talked to Shane and Stephanie McMahon, but that's not important. What is important is that we've altered your job description, and made an amendment on your contract."  
  
For a moment Lita looked worried.  
  
"Relax." Steve told her. "Linda made sure to remind me not to get you upset. So we altered your job description. You can work until you've had enough and you can't travel any longer. In case no one noticed, we've ordered a new announcer's table. A three-seat table. Lita, you'll be commentating with Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler."  
  
"What!" Bischoff exploded. "That's not..."  
  
"Do I look like I'm finished yet?" Austin glared at him, then turned back to Lita. "With the amendment we made on your contract, we all know that this can be a pretty violent workplace, tempers running high, people getting beat up backstage as well as in the ring. You're not being asked to sign a release form for any injury that may be inflicted on you. Instead, the amendment states that any superstar from RAW or SMACKDOWN, any employee of the WWE who harms you faces ending their career, as well as criminal charges. Anyone who lays a hand on you, threatens you, hits you, kicks you, is violent towards you in any way will be fired on the spot."  
  
"Why?" Randy Orton called out.  
  
"Because it was decided that it was easier to warn all of you about harming Lita, and firing you if you do so, than having her injured, and suing the WWE, and Vince McMahon for creating an unsafe working environment, which she is still entitled to do is she is harmed. She can also sue the person who harms her." Steve told him. "And make no mistake, there will be no second chances for anyone."  
  
"Hey Lita," Jericho called, "Would you like to be this week's special guest on 'The Highlight Reel'?"  
  
"I don't know." She told him. "Do we have a doctor in, what city is this?"  
  
"Chicago." Steve told her.  
  
"Do we?" She asked again.  
  
"Yeah, are you feeling okay?" He asked.  
  
"Imagine the worst hangover you've ever had, all day and all night, for several weeks, and instead of getting better it just keeps getting worse."  
  
"It can't be that bad." Bischoff said to her.  
  
"You try feeling how I'm feeling, and then we'll talk." Lita told him. "I think I'm going to head back to the hotel and lie down for a while. Just until I feel the like everything's stopped spinning."  
  
"Sure you won't stay for a little while?" Steve asked.  
  
"Sorry guys, I feel really worn out. I think I just need to sleep for a while, and then find something I can eat and keep down." The tiredness showed in her face. "Thanks for everything."  
  
"Let's get you to bed." Goldberg told her, leading her out of the room. "Thanks everyone." He called over his shoulder.  
  
"You're not putting me to bed." Lita told him. "You're going to stay here, drink probably too much beer, and have fun celebrating with our friends."  
  
"And I will take Lita back to the hotel." Trish added.  
  
"Are you sure?" Bill asked Lita.  
  
"No, I temporarily lost my mind and I just got it back. Stay, have fun and I'll call if I need anything." She smiled and kissed him on the mouth, before leaving with Trish, the two women arm in arm. 


	26. Morning, Afternoon, Evening and Night Si...

A/N: Sorry this chap's so short; I'm in the process of editing the next few parts, so this was all I could post.  
  
Thanks again guys  
  
Samantha.  
  
****************  
  
Early that night, Lillian knocked on Bill and Lita's hotel room door.  
  
"Hey." Lita greeted her, opening the door, "Come on in."  
  
"How are you feeling now?" The tall blonde asked.  
  
"Pretty crappy." Lita admitted.  
  
"My sister was really sick when she was pregnant with my niece, so I rang her up and asked what she did to curb her morning sickness, she told me to tell you to eat dry crackers on their own. It's supposed to help the morning sickness, dry crackers and ginger."  
  
"At this point, Lilli, I'll try anything." The brunette told her, running a hand through her messy, haphazardly tied up hair.  
  
"I brought a box up for you." Lillian told her, passing the package over.  
  
"Did I mention that you're a goddess?" Lita said to her.  
  
"Sit down and try to eat something." The blonde woman urged her, taking up a brush, and beginning to untangle Lita's blue streaked hair.  
  
"Do you know how much better I feel already?" Lita asked. "A hundred percent. I haven't been able to eat anything in days that hasn't made me want to be violently ill. Most foods I can't even stand the smell."  
  
"I'm glad you're starting to feel better." Lillian told her, beginning to pull Lita's long hair away from her face, into a braid to keep it tidy.  
  
By the time she was finishing up, Lita was half asleep, so the blonde woman left, throwing a rug over the sleeping woman, and closing the door carefully behind her.  
  
"Lillian!" Goldberg called to the leggy blonde announcer. "Rob said you were going up to see Lita."  
  
"Yeah, I took her up some crackers. They're supposed to help morning sickness." She answered.  
  
"How's she feeling now?"  
  
"A bit better I think. She ate a couple of crackers and went back to sleep." Lillian told him. "She seems pretty beat."  
  
"Thanks for being such a good friend." Bill told her.  
  
"You, and Lita, are both welcome." She smiled at him, then headed back to her own room. 


	27. Work, Houses and Clothes

A/N: This chapter takes place over time, sort of an overview kind of thing, anyway....  
  
Samantha  
  
***********  
  
"Hey, hey, welcome everyone to Monday night RAW, here in Chicago, Illinois." Jerry 'The King' Lawler crowed.  
  
"Tonight on RAW, our new announcer makes her debut, a young lady who's no stranger to this business, please welcome Lita!" JR announced.  
  
"Thanks for welcome guys." Lita told them. "It's nice to be here."  
  
"Now Lita, JR, and I know why you're RAW's new announcer, but for everyone here, and the folks at home..." King prodded.  
  
"I'm on an extended leave of absence from wrestling, everyone, sorry to say, and before everyone starts asking, my neck is fine. Goldberg and I are having a baby, so I've been told to forego wrestling, but Stone Cold Steve Austin called up Vince and Linda McMahon, and had my contract changed, so that I could be an announcer until I stop touring with the WWE." She explained.  
  
"And might I say congratulations again." JR told her. "This is first baby to be born into the WWE."  
  
"I think Austin's already having contracts drawn up to sign this one when it's old enough." Lita chuckled.  
  
"How's Bill taking it?" King asked.  
  
"He's really excited. We're going to start shopping for a new house next week."  
  
"Where abouts are you going to live?" JR asked. "I mean, you live in Virginia, and Bill lives in Florida."  
  
"I was living in Virginia, I moved back to Florida a while ago, so that's where we're going to stay." She answered. "I was born there, and all of our parents are there."  
  
"Sounds like a pretty exciting time in your lives." King told her.  
  
"Believe me, it is." She agreed. "We spent hours on the phone this week calling people, so for anyone we ran out of time to call, sorry." Lita said to the world.  
  
"Now we should get to tonight's matches." JR said, "First up we've got Tommy Dreamer versus Rico. How do you think that's going to turn out..."  
  
**************  
  
"Look at this place." Lita said, turning a circle in the lounge room. "There's room for everything."  
  
"Everything?" Bill asked her.  
  
"We're having a baby, we're gonna need a lot more space, this place is gorgeous, it's not more than we were willing to spend and it's close enough to all of our parents, without being overwhelming." She told him. "We couldn't find a better place if we looked for a million years." Lita slid her arms around his waist, looking up into his eyes.  
  
"Does that mean I should go and talk to the agent?" He asked softly, kissing her gently.  
  
"I think so." She answered.  
  
"You'd better start working out what kind of color scheme you want in here." Bill kissed her once more before he left the room to speak with the agent.  
  
***********  
  
"This isn't fair." Lita pouted, looking at her reflection in the mirror clothes strewn everywhere.  
  
"What's the matter?" Stacy asked, looking up from filing her nails.  
  
"Nothing fits, and if it does it's uncomfortable, or doesn't look right." Lita told her, holding another shirt over her chest, glaring at her reflection.  
  
"Honey, your pregnant." Trish told her sympathetically.  
  
"I know that." Lita exploded at her. "But this isn't fair." Inexplicably she burst into tears, holding a t-shirt to her chest as she cried.  
  
"It's okay." Trish reassured her. "Stacy and I will take you shopping and get you some new stuff, things that will fit."  
  
"I'm sorry I yelled at you." Lita sobbed into Trish's shoulder.  
  
"It's okay." Stacy patted her shoulder, "We know you didn't mean it."  
  
"What's going on in here?" Eric Bischoff stood in the doorway.  
  
"We're having a clothing crisis." Stacy told him. "And could you knock next time? One of us could have been getting changed."  
  
"None of you have anything I haven't seen before." He smiled slyly, staring at the three divas, taking in the sight of their bodies.  
  
"We're about to go out anyway." Trish told him, picking up her handbag and Lita's.  
  
All Eric could do was watch the three divas walk away.  
  
***********  
  
"What about this?" Stacy held up a little black dress.  
  
"There's no way that's maternity wear." Lita told her.  
  
"It's a stretch fabric." Stacy answered, "I'll bet you look gorgeous it in."  
  
"Bill would lose it if he saw you in that dress." Trish nodded.  
  
"Alright." Lita sighed, looking at the pile of clothing they had accumulated. "Can we see if we can find some jean and casual shirts, that sort of stuff?"  
  
"Not a problem." Trish grinned at the prospect of more shopping. 


	28. Uh Oh

A/N: Sorry it's been so long since I updated, the virus scanner on my computer went defunct and my whole main system went screwy, and I actually lost two of my fics (luckily not this one or one of my other big ones.)  
  
Happy reading,  
  
Enjoy Backlash,  
  
Samantha  
  
**********  
  
"Come on Lita. You know you want me." Eric told her.  
  
"I don't want you at all." She told him. "Now please leave."  
  
"I don't suppose you'd give me a show would you?" He asked, "You know, lap dance, something fun."  
  
"GET OUT!" Lita shouted at him, her eyes red from crying.  
  
"Wanna make me?" He asked, openly flirting.  
  
"Get out." She repeated, her voice calm and dangerous. When he didn't move, she reached out and grabbed the bottle of lemonade she'd been drinking, and hurled the glass bottle at him, though it missed, striking the wall on the opposite side of the hall, making glass shatter everywhere.  
  
The sound brought people's feet running.  
  
"What's going on here?" Steve panted; one of the first on the scene, seeing a hairdryer flying through the air as well, Lita's aim a little better this time, though it still struck the door.  
  
"She's mental." Eric said loudly.  
  
"Get away from me." Lita told him, her voice quaking slightly.  
  
"Lita, are you okay?" Steve asked, moving to touch her arm.  
  
"Don't fucking touch me." She screamed at him, her voice shrill.  
  
"Okay." He tried to placate her. "Just stay calm, it's okay."  
  
"It's not okay." She shot back. "I want him out of here."  
  
"What in hell is going on here?" Bill asked, pushing through the crowd with Shawn and Trish in tow.  
  
At once Lita wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his neck.  
  
"You're shaking." Bill told her. "What happened to make you so upset?"  
  
"Honey, tell us what happened, we'll make it all better, I promise." Trish said to her.  
  
"Make him go away." Lita's voice was muffled by Bill's shirt.  
  
"Who do you want to go away?" Steve asked. "Me? Eric?"  
  
"Eric." Was her muffled response.  
  
"What did you do to her?" Bill asked him, anger evident in his voice. At once Bischoff paled.  
  
Trish looked back and forth between Lita, and Eric, and surprising everyone standing there, she marched over to him and slapped him as hard as she could across the face, sending him reeling. "Don't you ever do to that to her again, do you understand me?"  
  
As she spoke, a wave of realization hit Steve and Bill.  
  
"You absolute SON OF A BITCH." Steve said to him. "Absolute son of a bitch."  
  
"I don't know what you're all talking about." Eric tried to defend himself. Then he was knocked off his feet as Bill, who had passed Lita over to Scott and Stacy, punched him hard in the face.  
  
"The amount of times I have wanted to do that is incredible, and I've been able to refrain." Bill told the pile of Bischoff lying on the floor. "But if you ever come anywhere near Lita again, make no mistake about it, I will kill you."  
  
"You're suspended for a month." Eric bit out, trying to stem the bleeding from his nose and mouth. "Trish, you're suspended too." With those words, Eric turned and stomped off.  
  
"Are you okay?" Bill asked Lita, gently cradling her body with his own.  
  
"I'm fine." She told him, her voice a little raspy from crying. "I'm okay." She rested her head against his chest, and felt him pull a blanket around her.  
  
"Can you tell us what happened?" Steve asked.  
  
"He came to talk to me I think, and when he worked out that I was here on my own, he tried to proposition me. Wanted me to give him a lap dance or something. I told him to get out, and he wouldn't leave, so I started throwing things at him, he made me so angry and so afraid."  
  
"Why were you afraid?" Shawn asked her. "You're a big girl, you can look after yourself."  
  
"He knows that I won't do anything that would hurt the baby." Lita told him. "I didn't want to get into a position where he might hit me."  
  
**************  
  
"Last item to be discussed." Eric began, "Bill Goldberg and Trish Stratus are both suspended from wrestling, and traveling with the RAW cast for one month."  
  
"You can't do that!" Shawn objected, "Everyone knows you got what you deserved."  
  
"They are both suspended as of today. Your pay-per-view contracts for the next one coming up will be cancelled."  
  
"I'll just go and call Vince and Linda McMahon then." Stone Cold replied. "I'm sure they'd both like to hear the full tale of events, seeing as though Lita is like a daughter to them."  
  
Eric paled. "The suspensions stand." His voice was not as strong as it had been before.  
  
"Excuse me then." Steve said, picking up Stacy's cell phone and dialing. "Hello Linda, it's Steve. Do you have a few minutes; I just want to run something by you. Yeah, it's about two suspensions Eric's laid down. No nothing like that, they're actually because Trish and Bill hit him. Damaged goods, yeah." Steve chuckled at something she said. "Fact is, Eric hit on Lita, got her pretty upset, so Trish slapped him and Bill punched him. She's okay, gone to stay with her mother I think, you can probably reach her there. Okay, I'll be waiting, yeah, this number's fine. I'll talk to you again in a few minutes." Steve looked at Eric with a sly smile on his face.  
  
"So, what did she say?" Eric asked, still wearing his false, cocky resolve.  
  
"She's pretty pissed off." Steve told him.  
  
"Gotta remember she knows what its like to be to pregnant, and she also knows what it's like to be the object of your affections, however grotesque they may be." Lita stood in the doorframe, silhouetted there. "Linda and I already talked. She was actually just waiting for someone to call."  
  
"You're supposed to be at your parents place for a few days." Bill told her gently.  
  
"I called her from the airport, and I told her that I had some unfinished business to attend." She replied, waving his hands away. "I'm okay, I'm not a china doll."  
  
"You make us all worry, that's all." Trish told her.  
  
"No need." She answered, walking over to Eric. "You fucking little good for nothing son of a bitch bastard little man, don't you ever come near me, or my child, or I will castrate you like the dog that you are, understand?"  
  
"Language." Triple H waggled his finger at her. "Don't start with me." Lita told him, her voice commanding and authoritive. "You won't win."  
  
"Sure about that?" He antagonized her.  
  
She walked over to him, got in his face. "You might be, in some circles, a nice guy, you might be a decent wrestler, you might even be a decent human being, all reputedly easy qualities to buy, but beneath the money, and the power and the 'prestige' you think you have, it would appear that you still have your fly undone."  
  
Hunter turned bright red, moving to fix his pants.  
  
"Have a nice day." Lita told everyone, before kissing Bill and walking out the door.  
  
Stacy's cell phone rang, shattering the silence. "Hi, Linda." Steve said into the phone without missing a beat. "I'll let them know. Yeah, Lita's actually around here somewhere. Bye." He looked at Eric. "You should get to the office, Vince and Linda are going to call you in about five minutes. Bill and Trish, you aren't suspended."  
  
***********  
  
Several Months Later.  
  
"Okay, that about brings us to the end of this week's meeting." Bischoff said. "Does anyone have anything they need to say?"  
  
"I think it sucks that we still have to have La Resistance here." D-Von Dudley called out.  
  
Rene Dupree called something out in French, causing Lita, who understood his words, to yell out, "Rene, mind your French!"  
  
"Anything else?" Bishoff asked.  
  
Lita shifted her weight and stood. "I think this week's going to be my last, at least until the baby comes." She said quietly.  
  
"Are you sure?" Steve asked. "You know you could always take a less... active approach to the show and touring."  
  
"Is that your round about way of saying you'll miss me?" Lita asked, "Because while it's very sweet, I just can't do it anymore. The next plane I get on will be to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where I intend to stay." As she spoke Bill placed his arms around her waist, resting them on her bump.  
  
"Good riddance." Eric muttered.  
  
"What did you say?" Bill asked him, his eyes flashing fire.  
  
"I didn't..." Bischoff began, intending to lie his way out of it.  
  
"Bill..." Lita called to him. He turned to look at her. "Come here." She beckoned to him, with one hand over her belly.  
  
"Is something wrong?" He asked, alarmed.  
  
As soon as he was in arms reach Lita grabbed his hand and pressed it to her stomach.  
  
His face lit up as the baby kicked. "It's kicking. It's kicking, you've gotta feel this." He announced, and turned to where most of their friends were standing.  
  
"Can I?" Trish asked. Lita nodded, placing her friend's hand over the spot where the baby was kicking, and smiled as the blonde's face lit up, "That is just amazing."  
  
"I'll say." Lita told her, "God, I wasn't prepared for that."  
  
"Can we get back to the meeting?" Eric asked.  
  
"Let them be." Steve told him. "It's the first time the baby's kicked."  
  
"Anyway," Lita began again. "I'm intending on flying out on Tuesday." 


	29. It's a party and she'll cry if she wants...

A/N: My God will you look at that! I managed to update. To be truthful, I haven't written on this story for ages, but there's still a fair bit to go before it's finished (If I ever write the ending), but I do enjoy writing it, so let me know what you think, and please, tell me if it sucks.  
  
Samantha  
  
"I look like an oversized balloon." Lita said as she looked in the mirror, the ice blue dress she'd chosen pulling a little over her stomach, showing off the bump that was now extremely evident.  
  
"You don't," Bill told her, slipping his arms around her waist, joining her reflection. "You look beautiful."  
  
"I don't feel beautiful." She answered.  
  
"Well you are." He promised. "Are you right to go? We'll have to leave in a few minutes. The limo's already here."  
  
As Bill got out of the limo camera flash bulbs went off everywhere, which he ignored as he reached into the car to help Lita out. People behind the barriers gasped to see her, while the Coach and Terri cornered them before they could get inside.  
  
"Lita look at you!" Coach stared at her with wide eyes. "No one expected you to be here tonight!"  
  
"You look beautiful." Terri told her. "How long to go now?"  
  
"Just under four months." Lita told her.  
  
"And here I am thinking you could go into labor any time now." Coach joked.  
  
"That was really funny." Trish's voice sounded from behind them.  
  
"I agree. Maybe we should take you out the back somewhere and beat you senseless." Shawn Michaels added, ignoring the cameras that surrounded them. "Because that's not a nice thing to say to anyone."  
  
Bill eyed Coach, like he wanted to Spear the man there and then, before walking into the building with the others.  
  
"I can't believe how gorgeous you are!" Trish exclaimed, one arm around her friend's waist.  
  
"I wouldn't go that far." Lita told her.  
  
"There are lots of people who would." Stacy told her, joining in the conversation. "You still look so fit and healthy."  
  
"It's not like I sit at home doing nothing." Lita reminded them.  
  
"Bill, Lita." Bischoff greeted them. "Take a seat, make yourselves comfortable."  
  
"Bite me." Lita muttered as she walked past him, knowing full well that the little man heard her, but couldn't do anything about it.  
  
"Hey!" Jeff raced over to her from his table and moved in close to hug her. "I missed you."  
  
"I missed you too. You need to stop by more often. It's not like I go anywhere." She returned the hug and kissed him on the cheek.  
  
"Look at this." He ran one hand ever her expanding belly. "It's amazing. I get to teach the little guy in there how to fly off ladders, and ropes."  
  
"Who said it's a he, and who said it'll be a wrestler at all?" Lita asked him, teasing.  
  
"Bags I get to be the first teacher, after Bill I mean." Jeff shrugged his shoulders at her.  
  
"Come sit you idiot." She pulled him by the hand, reaching out to grab onto Bill's hand too as they weaved through the mass of people, both men doing what they could to protect her from the crush.  
  
"Here we are." Bill pulled out a chair for her, waiting for her to sit down.  
  
"How is it that walking across a room can be so difficult?" She asked everyone.  
  
"How are we all tonight?" Vince asked, stopping by their table.  
  
"Good." Jeff told him. "Can't complain. Lita will."  
  
"Will not." Reflexively she thumped him in the side. "Take that."  
  
"You seem to be very relaxed." Linda told her. "If anyone upsets you, just let me know. You shouldn't get stressed."  
  
"Thank you." Lita told her. "It's nice to know that someone else here actually understands how I'm feeling."  
  
"And us guys don't?" A familiar voice asked.  
  
She smiled. "Shane."  
  
"Hey gorgeous, you look great." He bent down to kiss her cheek.  
  
"Can I have a kiss too Shane?" Jeff teased him, offering his cheek.  
  
"Shut up you freak." Shane said to him, but there was no malice in his voice.  
  
"They're right." Stephanie told her. "It's nice to see you back in the thick of it. We've all been missing you."  
  
"It's nice to be back with everyone, okay most people." Lita corrected herself, "But it's even nicer to know that people missed me."  
  
"Well we did." Vince assured her. "That women's title belt is yours still."  
  
"I love how that was arranged." Lita told him. "But maybe ten straight wins is too much."  
  
"You want to lose your Women's Championship belt?" Shane asked her.  
  
"No." She answered. "But it would nice to see someone almost get it."  
  
"You know you've got a point." Stephanie told her. "How's the baby?"  
  
"Very active." Lita smiled.  
  
"Yeah, you should see her on a bad day." Jeff told them, beginning to mimic her. "My back's stuffed, my front's stuffed and this kid still keeps on kicking. What am I, a football?"  
  
Everyone laughed, including Lita herself. "That was the worst impersonation you have ever done, especially of me." She told him.  
  
"Jeff's not up to his old tricks again is he?" A voice asked.  
  
"Of course." For a split second Lita smiled at the voice. "Hey Matt."  
  
He did a double take when he saw her. "God what happened to you?"  
  
"I swallowed a beach ball." She answered sarcastically.  
  
"That's unusual." Matt replied. "You spoke and it wasn't funny."  
  
"How about get fucked you sorry son of a bitch?" She asked him, somehow managing to keep a straight face. "And don't ever come near me again?"  
  
"Don't come near me then." He shot back.  
  
"Like that's ever going to happen." Lita told him.  
  
"Stay away from my brother."  
  
"Leave me out of this, Matt." Jeff butted in. "I'll spend my time with who I want to, when I want to."  
  
"Bloody impossible as usual." He told her.  
  
"Why don't you go and pick someone up Matt?" She asked the elder Hardy brother.  
  
"I'm with Sable." He answered.  
  
Lita just stared at him a moment. "I rest my case." She stood and turned to everyone else. "Please excuse me."  
  
As she walked away from the table, towards the ladies', Lita could hear about ten people telling Matt off, all at once, with a slap echoing through the room, before Trish and Stacy raced to catch up with her.  
  
"Are you all right Li?" Trish asked, draping an arm around her.  
  
"I'll be just fine." Lita answered shoving the door open violently and walking in to sit down on the couch in the waiting area, and bursting into tears.  
  
"He's a jerk Li." Stacy told her. "You know not to pay any attention to what he says."  
  
"I'm fine." She protested, sobbing uncontrollably.  
  
"Oh honey." Linda McMahon walked in, followed by Stephanie, and knelt down in front of her. "It's okay to cry you know."  
  
"I'm not crying." Lita's words were punctuated by loud sobs.  
  
"Yes, you are." Linda told her gently, passing her a handkerchief.  
  
"I don't want to be crying." She told the four women. "I hate it."  
  
"We know." Trish soothed her.  
  
"No you don't. I hate it. I really hate it. And I hate that he can still make me cry." Lita looked around at the others. "It's not fair."  
  
"It never is." Stephanie told her. "At least you have Bill now. He's a better guy than Matt."  
  
"He really is." Lita told them tearfully. "Do you know he bought me flowers on the anniversary of the first day we met?"  
  
"That sounds nice." Stacy told her. "I wish Scott would remember things like that."  
  
"It was really great. He took me out for dinner too. I cried all the way through the entrees so we went home and ordered Chinese food."  
  
Trish smiled. "See, there's no reason to get so upset over a jerk like Matt."  
  
"I know, but sometimes it's so hard."  
  
"You know I used to be so intimidated by these waiting rooms in the ladies bathrooms." Stacy told them out of the blue.  
  
"Where did that come from?" Stephanie asked.  
  
"I don't know, I was just thinking it for some reason." Stacy answered her.  
  
"I used to think it was just me." Lita told them. "The first time we stayed in a big hotel I just thought, you know I've walked into a private sitting room. A small town girl from Fort Lauderdale, Florida and I was so shy and scared."  
  
Trish smiled. "Yeah, look at you now, big time star."  
  
"No." Lita told her. "I think that the girl from Fort Lauderdale just grew up a little, saw the world for what it really was, and for most part, said 'No, thank you. I'll stay who I am.'"  
  
"I know." Stacy told her. "I hate it when I'm out and men just look at me like I'm a piece of ass, or just legs."  
  
"Men barely ever look into my face when we meet." Trish told them. "They go to look at my legs, or my face, and just stop at my boobs."  
  
"One of the pluses about being pregnant." Lita told them. "They start off by looking at my legs, and by the time they see my belly, I don't get a second glance."  
  
"That's crap." Trish told her. "Do you know how gorgeous you look? Or how many guys have been eyeing you off since we walked in?"  
  
"I guess I became pregnant and oblivious." Lita told her.  
  
"I don't understand men." Trish said loudly, throwing herself down backwards onto the couch.  
  
"You aren't meant to." Lita said absently. "If you were relationships wouldn't be anywhere near as interesting."  
  
"Who said I wanted an interesting relationship?" Trish gave her an exasperated look.  
  
"Look at it this way." Lita began. "We can only give them so much, our bodies, sex, money, prestige, but then, some of them surprise us, because sometimes they only want our hearts."  
  
"That's beautiful." Stephanie told her.  
  
"Believe me, you have to be cynical about the whole gender before you realize stuff like that."  
  
"Then I'll be cynical too." Stacy told her.  
  
Lita laughed. 


	30. Don't mess with a pregnant woman

A/N: I haven't updated this story in forever, so I'm sorry everyone, I will try to remember it in the future.  
  
Samantha.  
  
--------------  
  
Heavily pregnant, Lita stood at the kitchen bench, making herself a sandwich and watching the news on the small televison she kept on the bench.  
  
"Late last night a dentist convention decended on Fort Lauderdale, resulting in many double hotel bookings,  
leaving people out in the cold, and having to check into everything from bed and breakfasts, to backpackers hostels. What are we going to do when World Wrestling Entertainment, also known as the WWE jets into town for their show on Monday night?" The announcer was saying.  
  
Lita looked surprised, then carefully catalogued her home, and picked up the phone.  
  
---------------  
  
"Now we're all flying out together." Austin told everyone. "So it might create a bit of a rush at the airport, though we have asked that extra security be on hand."  
  
As Austin was speaking Bill's cell phone went off. Bishoff gave him a deadly look as he pulled it out and stared at the name registering on the tiny screen. "Bill, we're in a meeting." Bishoff snapped.  
  
The bigger man ignored him, answering the phone. "Lita, is everything all right?"  
  
"You're staying at home this week aren't you?" She asked.  
  
"Yeah, of course. What's going on?"  
  
"I was just watching the news. The city's hotels have been all but booked out, a dentists convention's in town as well you guys. Most of the WWE's rooms have been double booked. I'll gamble at saying half the roster won't have anywhere to stay." She told him.  
  
"How the hell did that happen?" Bill asked, barely noticing the strange looks he was recieving from the others.  
  
"Something about a computer glitch. I figured that, if it's fine with you, we could sleep about twelve people at our place, not including you and I."  
  
"Yeah. That's logical. I'll let everyone know."  
  
"I'll also check with some little places I know." Lita told him. "Maybe some of them still have vacancies." "Okay, take it easy. I love you." Bill told her.  
  
"Love you too." She answered, hanging up the phone.  
  
-----------------  
  
"What's going on?" Trish asked, "Is she all right?"  
  
"Yeah, she's fine. Waiting enthusiastically for us all to get there." Bill told her. "But, she rang to tell me, and all of you, that most of our hotel rooms were double booked, and are unavailable to us."  
  
"Who in hell shafted our rooms?" Chris Jericho fumed.  
  
"Would you believe a convention of dentists? She says a computer glitch is responsible for the stuff up."  
  
"So what the hell do we do?" Bishoff asked. "Cancel the show?"  
  
"Lita worked out that about half our rooms are occupied. That leaves half of us." Bill told him. "I'll be going home so that's one less, but Lita worked out that we can have twelve people stay with us. She's ringing around to some other places now to see if she can book any more rooms"  
  
"Great, just great." Triple H said. "How do we decide who stays where?"  
  
"Shotgun I'm staying wherever Evolution's not." Trish yelled out.  
  
"Me too." Stacy called.  
  
"How about you leave the accomodations to us." Steve told them. "Eric and I will sit down, and try to make sure that everyone will be comfortable."  
  
"One thing." Bill said to him, "Try to make sure whoever's staying with us isn't going to stress Lita out, she is eight and a half months pregnant now, and she gets a little... volatile."  
  
"Everything will be just fine." Steve reassured him. "Now everyone, we've got a plane to catch."  
  
-----------------  
  
"What time does the flight get in?" Jeff asked.  
  
"Six minutes." Lita told him, standing up once more and walking a few steps, before sitting back down, and rubbing her lower back.  
  
"You really need to sit down and take it easy, Lita." The Undertaker told her.  
  
"I can't. I just feel so..."  
  
"Restless, fractious, nervous." Jeff suggested, teasing.  
  
"Actually yeah. I can't wait for Bill to get home, and for everything else." She told the pair, standing up to begin pacing again.  
  
The two men just watched her, unable to find the words to calm her, just looking on until she sat down again. "How long now?" Jeff asked.  
  
"Flight 744 from Boston is now unloading. Passengers are now approaching the gate." An announcer called over the loudspeakers.  
  
"Come on." Jeff said to her. "Let's go and meet Bill and the others." Both men reached out to help her out of the chair.  
  
"I'm not an invalid." She protested, but let them help her anyway.  
  
At the gate, Lita began pacing again, her eyes fixed on the gate, watching expectantly for Bill to come through. As she spotted him, her eyes lit up. He smiled when he saw her, reaching out to hug her as he walked though the gate,  
while she smiled happily, leaning up to kiss him. "I'm so glad you're home." She told him.  
  
"I thought I told you not to come down here on your own." He admonished her gently. "Anything could happen."  
  
"I was being taken care of." She promised, gesturing to Jeff and 'Taker.  
  
"Hey man." Jeff said, holding out his hand. "We've been taking good care of her."  
  
"Thanks." Bill told him sincerely, wrapping his arm around Lita's middle.  
  
"Oh my god, Lita! Look at you!" Trish exclaimed, seeing her standing with Bill. "Honey, you're gorgeous!"  
  
"And here I was thinking that I was just fat." Lita answered. "But thank you."  
  
"Jeff, 'Taker, nice to see you." Austin's voice rang out.  
  
"Yeah, it's nice to see everyone here too." 'Taker told them.  
  
"So what are you two doing on Florida?" Trish asked. "Taker, don't you have SMACKDOWN!?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm just passing through to collect Jeff, then back to Detroit. We should actually get going. Our plane leaves in twenty minutes."  
  
Lita looked at the pair in horror. "Don't go?"  
  
"Lita, if you need us, just call." Jeff reminded her. "I'll even make sure I leave my cell phone on, and I'll remember to call you, Sunday six-thirty."  
  
She nodded unhappily.  
  
"Take it easy, and enjoy yourself." Jeff told her.  
  
She nodded again, then watched as the pair walked away. "Bye."  
  
"Lita, are you okay?" Trish asked, seeing the look on the brunette's face.  
  
The look vanished before anyone else could spot it. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired."  
  
"How else are you feeling?" Steve asked.  
  
Lita looked at him in surprise. "You really want to know? I'm eight and a half months pregnant, and I feel like I'm about ready to pop. It's ninety-seven degrees outside. My back's stuffed, my front's stuffed and I haven't seen my ankles for so long that I'm actually having trouble remembering what they look like."  
  
"That sounds... uh..."  
  
"It's fine." She told him. "Don't say anything, or I'll probably get mad at you. Apparently I have really bad mood swings at the moment."  
  
"Steve, there you are!" Bishoff's voice sounded clearly, "And who are... oh my god it's Lita." His eyes widened as he spotted Lita's belly. "Geez, taking a few months off really helped you pack on the kilos." "Back off." Goldberg growled at him.  
  
"I didn't take a few months off to do nothing in, you jerk." Lita snapped at him, her mood swing obvious to everyone. "I'm gestating, which is hard work for any female, now get the hell outta my face." She shoved past him,  
showing that despite her 'condition', as everyone called it, that she was still capable of taking care of herself. Once past him she sat down on one of the hard plastic chairs, completely back to her normal self. Most people tried to hide the smiles on their faces.  
  
"Okay," Steve began. "On the plane, Eric and I worked out where everyone is staying. So the following people are staying with Bill and Lita at their home. Trish Stratus, Shawn Michaels, Kevin Nash, Bubba Ray, Spike and D-Von Dudley, Stacy Keibler, Scott Steiner, Booker T, Rob Van Dam and Tommy Dreamer."  
  
"What about the rest of us?" Chris Jericho asked.  
  
"I did a ring around." Lita said to Steve and Eric. "I think there'll be enough rooms available for everyone else.  
Transport's waiting outside too." She held out a sheaf of papers, making no move to get up. In the end Eric walked over and took them from her. "It wouldn't hurt you to get up and do something would it?" At once she was on her feet, surprising everyone with her grace and fluidity of movement, planting a knee in his crotch. As he doubled over in pain, she just looked at him. "Just did, and there's no pleasing you is there? Over the last eight and a half months I have done more work carrying a child almost to term than you have done in the last year or more. Words of advice, do not piss off a pregnant woman."  
  
"Uhhh..." Bishoff moaned, doing everything he could to not hold his crotch in public.  
  
"We should get moving." Steve announced. "Everyone listen up..." He divided the rest of them into groups, telling them where they would be staying.  
  
"Okay people, we're done here." He finished.  
  
"Steve?" Lita asked, "Where are you intending on staying? You didn't include yourself in any of the accomodation."  
  
"I didn't did I?" He replied, running one hand over his goatee, looking down at the list again.  
  
"I think you need to come and stay with us." Lita told him. "Thirteen superstars and me in a house? We're gonna need supervision."  
  
"Are you sure you've got room for one more?" Steve asked her.  
  
"As long as you don't mind staying in the poolhouse with some of the others." Lita told him.  
  
"That'd be great."  
  
"Come on." Bill told her, "Let's get you home." 


	31. Home

Thanks for the reviews guys, I really appreciate them, especially on a story I hadn't updated for so long.  
  
Samantha  
  
---------------  
  
"This is nice." Shawn appraised the place as he got out of the car.  
  
"Well we like it." Bill told his friend. "Let's get all of our stuff inside and settle in."  
  
"Sounds like a good idea to me." Lita said.  
  
"That's because you aren't allowed to carry anything." Kevin told her.  
  
"I'm carrying plenty, you just don't know it." She answered, walking up to the front door and unlocking it to let people through.  
  
--------------  
  
"So how are we working out who's sleeping where?" Bill asked her, once everyone's bags were inside.  
"I did think about it." Lita told him. "I figured Trish can have her normal room, and Scott and Stacy can have the one opposite, Jeff's room. The Dudleyz can sleep in the second lounge room. Which means that there's another bedroom free for two people, and four people can stay in the pool house."  
  
"Pool house?" RVD asked.  
  
"It's more like a self contained bungalow." Bill told him. "It's next to the pool, so we call it a pool house." "Bags I'm sleeping in there then." Tommy Dreamer called.  
  
"Yeah, me too!" Rob said.  
  
"Fine, Booker, you and Steve are there too." Lita told them. "Shawn, you and Kevin are sharing the bedroom, let's go people."  
  
"Uh, Lita? We don't know where we're going." Rob told her.  
  
"Trish, could you take Scott and Stacy upstairs with you, Bill, show Shawn and Kevin where they're sleeping, and Dudleyz, come with me. I'll be back for you guys in a minute." She told Austin and the others.  
  
-------------  
  
"Okay, here we are." Lita told them, opening the sliding door.  
  
"This is nice." D-Von said, looking appreciatively around the room to see two folded out couches, and a camp bed made up, complete with pillows and blankets.  
  
"Yeah." Bubba agreed. "Thanks for putting us up like this Lita."  
  
"You're welcome, and it's not a problem." She told them. "I'll be back soon, bathroom's just down the hall, third door on the left, but just yell if you need anything."  
  
--------------  
  
"Okay, you four, let's go." Lita announced as she re-entered the room.  
  
"You know, we could probably find it ourselves if you want to sit down or something." Rob told her.  
  
"Don't be silly, I'm fine. I'll be sitting down shortly anyway. Let's go." She told them.  
  
Outside in the yard was beautiful, with tropical flowers and palm trees surrounding a kidney shaped pool filled with clear, blue water, surrounded by banana lounges.  
  
"I had no idea you lived in a place like this." Tommy joked. "If I had, I would've been a houseguest before now."  
  
Lita smiled. "Thank you. Bill and I certainly like it. It's even more beautiful at night." She gazed wistfully at the garden for a moment. "Here we go." She walked a few more steps, pausing to unlock the door of an outbuilding.  
"One pool house."  
  
"This is great." Booker exclaimed, "It's like the party room you never have to clean up."  
  
"We figured it would be a nice place to hang out in the summer. It's cooler in here than up at the house. I don't know why. Anyway, there's a heating and cooling system, and the fridge is stocked, clean blankets, sheets and towels. Come up to the house when you've unpacked." She rubbed her belly uncomfortably as she spoke.  
"Is everything all right?" Steve asked.  
  
"Yeah, it's just a foot, or a hand my doctor tells me, but I think that's crap." She answered, still rubbing the spot.  
  
"I don't get it." Tommy said to her.  
  
"Feel there." She took his hand and held it over the bump. "It's a foot. Junior wants out."  
  
"That's so cool." He looked at her in amazement.  
  
"Yeah, it's great." She agreed, a little sarcastically.  
  
"Why would your doctor tell you it was a hand, not a foot?" Rob asked.  
  
"Because, before the baby's born, if everything is normal, the baby turns one-eighty degrees, so that it's head comes out first, and it's feet come out last. If I'm right, it means I'm a lot closer to having this baby than my doctor thinks."  
  
"How do you know when it's turning?" Tommy asked.  
  
"Because Junior's head rested against my hip for a week, from top to bottom. So you could say, I felt it, and it was very uncomfortable. Anyway I'll let you all unpack, and see you up at the main house."  
  
"Be careful." Steve told her.  
  
"I'm going to walk from the pool to the patio doors." She reminded him. "I think I'll be all right."  
  
---------------  
  
As Trish and the others walked into the kitchen, Lita was already there, setting muffins and cookies onto big serving platters.  
  
"Do you even know the meaning of the words 'take it easy'." Trish asked.  
  
"Carry these over to the table for me." Lita said to her. "Everyone'll have a fit if I do it."  
  
"Sure." Trish said, "Now you, sit down."  
  
"In a minute." The brunette promised, turning on the coffee maker, and boiling the electric kettle, before opening a cabinet and setting mugs and glasses on the bench.  
  
"Trish, there's some juice and soft drink in the fridge, could you get it out, please?" Lita asked.  
  
"You never stop do you?" Bill told her, walking in with Shawn and Kevin, and putting his arms around her waist.  
  
"I've had nothing to do." She told him.  
  
"What happened to gestating?" Shawn asked innocently.  
  
"I'm female. I can do two things at once." She answered.  
  
"Then how about you sit down for one thing, and relax for the second?" Bill suggested.  
  
"That's not fair." Lita told him. "Very not fair."  
  
"Sit down." He told her again, laughing as she obliged.  
  
"Since I'm sitting down, could you get the other platter out of the fridge please?" She asked.  
  
"I'm sure I could do that." Bill teased her.  
  
"Look what we found!" Stacy said, walking into the kitchen with Scott, cuddling a dog in her arms.  
  
"Ahh, the ferocious guard dogs strike again." Lita said half laughing, "Everyone meet our dogs, Lulu and Jess."  
  
"They're so cute." Shawn said, reaching down to pat one of the dogs. "And if anyone ever tells that I said that, I'll kill you."  
  
"Which is which?" Stacy asked.  
  
"Lulu is black and grey, and Jess is the tri-color you're holding." Lita told her. "Bill gave Jess to me for Christmas last year."  
  
"What?" Bill looked at Steve, Kevin and Shawn. "I couldn't think of anything else."  
  
"I'm not much of a jewellery and flowers person." Lita elaborated. "But I'm a sucker for a cute puppy."  
  
"How's bubs?" Stacy asked, sitting down and helping herself to a cookie.  
  
"Very lively." Lita told her. "Especially at night. This kid's either going to have ballet lessons, or learn to play football."  
  
"Big kicker?" Shawn asked.  
  
"Mmm." She agreed.  
  
"So what sort of muffins are these?" Trish asked, trying to take her friend's mind off everything.  
"Chocolate choc-chip, apple choc-chip, apple and blueberry, apple and oatmeal, and lemon and poppy seed." She answered, gesturing to each variety as she spoke.  
  
"You shouldn't have gone to so much trouble." Steve told her.  
  
"Have to keep busy somehow, besides, Jeff and 'Taker helped."  
  
"So we shouldn't be surprised if there's paint and body glitter in these?" Tommy asked.  
  
"I made him take it all off before we started. He knows the drill. We used to cook together all of the time. Except he makes up all of these horrible combinations like peanut butter, orange extract and poppy seeds. Once, he couldn't find anything to put in the batter so he emptied a bottle of bright green food coloring into it. No one would eat them. They looked like green lumpy balls because he didn't stir it properly." Lita told them, smiling at the memory.  
  
"I think I remember that." Tommy added. "He terrorised us all for two days with those."  
  
"And then I threw them all out when he wasn't looking." She told him.  
  
"So why was 'Taker here to pick him up?" Rob asked.  
  
"Jeff's making his comeback on SMACKDOWN! I've been supervising him for about three weeks while he's been getting back into shape and Undertaker came down to pick him up and put him through his paces for a few days before Jeff goes back onto the show." The look on her face as she spoke screamed out 'proud big sister'.  
  
"Are you looking forward to RAW this week?" Steve asked.  
  
"I haven't been to a match for so long." Lita told them. "I think I've been looking forward to this one for oh, I don't know, four months. Ever since I left the circuit."  
  
"You are going to accept the offer of being a guest commentator, right?" He asked again.  
  
"Maybe not for the whole night." She admitted. "I keep getting really tired."  
  
"Did you tell the doctor?" Bill asked, worried.  
  
"Apparently it's normal." Lita told him. "Don't worry."  
  
"Realistically, when do you think you'll have the baby?" Shawn asked. "At work we've all got bets on."  
  
"I can't really say." She told him.  
  
"What about the hand/ foot thing?" Rob asked.  
  
"What?" Trish said, not understanding.  
  
"I told my doctor that I'm pretty sure the baby's turned already, but she keeps telling me that it hasn't. If I'm right,  
I don't think the baby's going to wait another two weeks." Lita explained.  
  
"Are you sure it's turned?" Stacy asked, "I mean, the doctor has to know something you don't."  
  
Lita inhaled sharply. "Yeah, I'm sure. That was a foot to my chest cavity. Arms don't work that way."  
  
"Just take it easy." Bill told her, rubbing her back.  
  
"Yeah, look I'm going to go and lie down for a while. Help yourself to whatever." She told them, standing up.  
  
"Do you need some help getting up the stairs?" Kevin asked.  
  
"No, I'll be fine." Lita answered, then smiled. "Thanks for the offer." 


	32. The Nursery, and family

AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!1 I accidently uploaded the last chapter which was 2 chapters ahead of where the story actually,  
so thanks to the person who reviewed and told me that the story hadn't made a whole lot of sense.  
  
Samantha.  
  
-----------------  
  
"Is it just me or is she different?" Steve asked everyone.  
  
"She's been getting more and more like this every time I come home. I think she's just changing." Bill told them.  
  
"She's seems pretty tired though."  
  
"Yeah, I was surprised at that." Stacy said. "She's normally so lively."  
  
"I actually thought she'd have us upstairs looking at the nursery. Lita's been doing it up all by herself. I haven't seen it at all yet. She's been keeping me out of there for months." Bill mused.  
  
"Do you want to go up and take a peek?" Trish asked mischeviously.  
  
"No, we'll leave it until she's up to showing us. What about a swim?" He asked.  
  
"Isn't it a bit hot?" Stacy asked.  
  
"I'm sure I can find a couple of pool umbrellas." Bill answered her with a smile.  
  
At around dinner time time Lita re-emerged from the master bedroom to find that her kitchen had been overrun.  
  
"Hey, you're up." Shawn said to her, noticing her standing in the doorway.  
  
"Yeah." She smiled. "Can't sleep forever."  
  
"You don't mind that we've taken over your kitchen do you?" Scott Steiner asked.  
  
She shrugged, "As long as I don't have to cook, do whatever you want."  
  
"Have a seat." Stacy told her. "Sit and chat for a while."  
  
"What do you want to talk about?" Lita asked, pulling a chair out from under the table.  
  
"What have you been up to?" Stacy suggested.  
  
"I've painted a nursery, and the kitchen actually." She gestured to the walls. "And I've taken Jess and Lulu to obedience classes. Just kept active."  
  
"How active can a pregnant woman be?" Booker T asked.  
"I gave up jogging when I was seven months pregnant. I still swim six laps of the pool everyday. Yoga, pilates, and I've been playing two or three sets of tennis a week actually. Still walking the dogs, that's about it." Lita told him.  
  
"That's all?" Scott asked, surprise evident in his voice.  
  
"Being pregnant isn't just some excuse to sit home on the couch." Lita told him. "You should have trained with me before I was pregnant."  
  
"She's a real fire cracker." Bill said, walking across the room to kiss her. "She used to beat me in almost everything."  
  
"Almost?" Booker teased.  
  
"I can't really lift the amount of weight Bill does." Lita told him.  
  
"Yeah, she lifts between fifty and eighty pounds."  
  
"And he lifts me." Lita told them.  
  
Scott laughed.  
  
"Are you hungry?" Bill asked Lita.  
  
"No, not really." She answered, shrugging her shoulders.  
  
"You need to eat something." Trish told her, carrying an empty platter inside.  
  
"I'm fine, guys, I promise." Lita told them. "I'll let you know if I need anything."  
  
"As long as you do." Stacy told her.  
  
"Actually, you know what you could all do." She said out loud.  
  
"As long as it can be mentioned in polite company." Steve told her, walking inside with a can of beer in his hand.  
  
"Come upstairs and tell me if the nursery looks okay." Lita finished. "Unless of course you already looked..."  
  
"No one's been up there yet." Bill promised her.  
  
"Good." She told him, getting up and walking towards the stairs, then turning back to everyone. "Aren't you all coming?"  
  
"Hell yeah." Stacy giggled, taking off Steve's famous line.  
  
"So, what do you think?" Lita asked as everyone stared around the room. While she waited for a response, she ran a critical eye over the cream walls, blue skirting boards and window sills, the same blue highlighting the edges of the divider, which ran around the four walls, halfway between the ceiling and the floor. Closer inspection would show that the middle of the divider, six inches of space between the lines of solid blue, was filled with hand painted teddy bears and balloons.  
  
The furniture was varying shades of cream, some pieces trimmed minutely with blue. A new teddy bear sat on an adult sized rocking chair in the corner, while a stuffed pony walker stood beneath the window sill, next to a hand painted toybox, in the same cream, trimmed with blue, decorated with painted teddy bears.  
  
"Lita this is beautiful." Trish breathed.  
  
"She's right, babe." Bill told her, putting an arm around her. "This is great."  
  
"Check out this." Rob beckoned to the others, as he peered down at the divider and ran his fingers over it.  
  
"It looks like it was handpainted." Kevin said.  
  
"It took me three months to do all of the bears in the divider, and another three weeks to do the toybox." Lita told them.  
  
"You painted all of this yourself?" Shawn asked. "I never knew that you were so talented."  
  
"Thank you, and it's not like I didn't have the time." She said running her fingers along the blue stripe.  
  
"It must have cost a fortune, to buy everything new." Stacy said looking around the room again.  
  
"Not all of it's new." Lita answered. "My parents gave us the rocking chair in the corner. It sat in my room when I was a baby, and the pony walker is the same one I learned to walk on."  
  
"They kept them all of these years?" Tommy asked.  
  
"The rocking chair is almost an antique now. It was my great grandmother's. She started the tradition of passing it down." She ran a gentle hand over the timber. "I remember sitting in this chair with my mother when I was little,  
reading stories before bedtime, playing on the floor in front of it while she knitted or sewed."  
  
"You want to give your baby those memories." Shawn nodded in understanding.  
  
"Hey, you remember when we bought this?" Bill said to her, taking a picture frame from the top of the dresser. He carried it over to show it to her. She nodded, smiling as she looked down at the picture of the two of them. Shawn had taken it at an amusement park they'd been to before Lita had known that she was pregnant.  
  
"What's with all of the other photos?" Rob asked, gesturing to pictures of just about everyone Bill and Lita were close to.  
  
"We want him or her to know who makes up our family." Bill told him.  
  
"You consider me part of the family?" Steve asked, picking up a picture of himself.  
  
"Of course." Lita told him. "That was the hardest picture to find. All I wanted was a photo of you without your FCK FEAR shirt or cap on, and without a can of beer in your hand."  
  
Everyone laughed.  
  
"I never knew I was that important." Steve told her.  
  
"Who else is going to be 'Uncle Steve'?" Bill asked.  
  
"Just don't send the kid to him for guidence." Tommy joked.  
  
----------------  
  
"Here we are, just outside Miami, Florida. Welcome to RAW everyone." JR said into his microphone.  
  
"Yeah, welcome everyone." King added, "But especially, a warm welcome to Lita, who's by the looks of it, is almost ready to have her baby. How long to go now?"  
  
"Two weeks." Lita answered him, absently rubbing her belly.  
  
"Lita's back on RAW tonight, in her home town, as our special guest commentator." JR told the crowd. "She'll be commentating... How many matches is it Lita?"  
  
"Four if I can manage it." She answered. "I promised my doctor I wouldn't over do it."  
  
"Wise advice from the looks of things." King said to her.  
  
"Very funny." She answered good naturedly.  
  
"Now you are commentating the main event with us aren't you?" JR asked. "For everyone at home it's an eight man tag team match with the teams as follows, Goldberg, Shawn Michaels, Kevin Nash and Scott Steiner versus Triple H, Ric Flair, Randy Orton and Kane."  
  
"That's one I don't intend on missing." Lita promised them.  
  
"I guess we don't have to guess which team you're barracking for." King told her, amused.  
  
"No, it's not a hard guess." She agreed.  
  
---------------  
  
"Here we are, sitting at ringside, with Rob Van Dam and Tommy Dreamer sitting on either side of us. Do we know what you're doing here?" King asked.  
  
"Goldberg made me promise not to come out here alone, and that I'd have someone with me to look after me if this match gets out of hand." Lita told him. "Meet my unofficial bodyguards for the night."  
  
"So Goldberg is worried something's going to happen?" JR asked.  
  
"No so much worried, as wanting to prevent any problems." RVD told him.  
  
"There's the bell, here we go." King announced to the crowd, "We've got Shawn Michaels and Randy Orton as the legal men to start."  
  
"Orton took Michaels apart at UNFORGIVEN." JR added.  
  
"Yeah, but only because Ric Flair helped him out." Lita said. "If Evolution ever got involved in another match where they were alone, and disqualification meant losing the match, they'd get rolled again." Wincing she rubbed her lower back, shrugging it off as JR looked at her questionably.  
  
"You're probably right." King told her, not having noticed the exchange of looks between her and JR.  
  
"I think Evolution might have taken on more than they can handle with this match though." JR added. "Now they not only have to watch out for their opposition, but they also have to watch their backs for Kane."  
  
"He could turn on any one of us at any moment." King agreed.  
  
"Lovely take down, and a suplex by Michaels, this kid's gotta be seeing stars." JR describes the action in the ring.  
  
"There we go, that's a blind tag by Michaels, here comes Kevin Nash." Lita added. "There we go, a boot right to the face." She rubbed her back and stomach interchangably, trying relieve the discomfort she was feeling.  
  
"Orton's gotta make a tag." King told everyone, "But this side doesn't seem to be allowing him anywhere near his corner so that he can make that vital tag."  
  
"Here we go, another tag, Nash to Steiner. Next to Lita here, we've also got Stacy Kiebler. Stacy, how do you think this match is going so far?" JR asked the leggy blonde.  
  
"If our guys keep it up, I think going to win." Stacy told him.  
  
"There we go, Orton got the tag, Nature Boy Ric Flair is in the ring." Lita called out. "Look out Scott!" As she jumped in her seat she winced as an unexpected pain shot through her back.  
Steiner turned to see Flair coming toward him, getting his arm up before Flair could knock him off his feet.  
  
Everyone watched in silence for a few minutes as the referee scolded Randy Orton for trying to get in the ring again, while Flair tried for the Figure Four on Scott Steiner. Once Steiner had gotten out of it, and made the tag to Goldberg, the match took a different turn, becoming more of a brawl than a wrestling match.  
  
Unexpectedly Lita groaned heavily as pain wracked her entire body, forcing the breath from her lungs and making her double over.  
  
"Lita? Are you all right?" JR asked, reaching down to help her sit up properly.  
  
"Just take a few deep breaths." Stacy coached, moving to crouch down beside her. "You'll be fine."  
  
In the ring, no one noticed anything going on at ringside, as the brawl intensified with Ric Flair dashing out to get a steel chair.  
  
As Lita went to speak, to tell them that she was all right, the pain came again, sharper, harder this time. As soon as she got her breath back, she began to speak. "I think this baby wants to make it's first appearance on RAW."  
  
"I'm sure you'll be able to fly to wherever we are when it's born." Rob told her, not understanding the meaning of her words.  
  
"I mean, I think this baby wants to make an appearance tonight." Lita told him, in between ragged breaths.  
  
"It's okay, just stay calm." Stacy calmed her. "We'll get someone out here."  
  
"You remember your Lamaze breathing?" JR asked, coaching her. "Good girl, steady breathing."  
  
"Can we get the medics out here?" King was saying into his microphone, sounding completely frazzled. "We've got a problem out here."  
  
Several moments passed, and the men in the ring showed no signs of having heard anything. Then suddenly, Stone Cold Steve Austin's music began playing over the loud speakers. Without stopping at the top of the ramp, he ran down, making a 'T' with his hands, then fumbling with the microphone one of the sound technicians thrust into his hand. "Hey down there, you guys in the ring, can you hear me?"  
  
All eight wrestlers, plus the referee stopped whatever they were doing, and looked at him.  
  
"You can all hear me, right?" Steve asked again. "Good, this damn match is cancelled."  
  
On his orders the bell rang.  
  
"What?" Ric Flair yelled from inside the ring.  
  
"Looks like there's more going on at ringside than there is in the ring." Steve told them all. At once Bill turned to see Lita, her face wrought with pain. "Bill, you'd better get going."  
  
As he stood there, frozen for a moment, Triple H seized the moment to heft his choice weapon, a sledgehammer,  
and begin to swing it towards the back of Goldberg's head. The act was shown on the big screen, meaning that the whole arena could see it. Before the sledgehammer connected, Triple H was lifted off his feet by Kane, and choke slammed out of the ring, lying motionless on the rubber padded floor. Goldberg stared at him for a second, then turned and slid between the ropes to get to Lita's side.  
  
"Hey. You're doing great." He told her, accepting the sweatshirt Tommy Dreamer offered him, and slipping it over his head. "That's it, keep breathing."  
  
As he spoke the paramedics rushed down the ramp carrying a stretcher, which Goldberg gently lifted Lita onto,  
jogging along side it as the attendants wheeled her to the waiting ambulance. 


	33. At the hospital

For everyone who was waiting for this chapter, this is where Lita' has her baby.  
  
Thanks.  
  
Samantha.  
  
---------------  
  
In the hospital waiting room many of the RAW superstars waited anxiously for news, with Trish pacing the floor restlessly, glancing at the clock on the wall every few seconds.  
  
Stacy lay sleeping against Scott's shoulder, while many others nursed cups of coffee, or water, most clock watching like Trish.  
  
A nurse, dressed in pink scrubs walked out the door, looking around at everyone. "Is Trish Stratus here?"  
  
At once Trish stopped pacing. "I'm Trish Stratus." She answered.  
  
"Lita wants to see you. She's been asking for you." The nurse told her, gesturing for the blonde diva to follow her.  
  
--------------  
  
In the delivery room, Lita lay, sweat streaked and tired propped up by a pile of pillows, moaning every so often,  
Bill holding her hand.  
  
"Hey Li, how's it going?" Trish asked gently.  
  
"I can't do it. I just can't." Lita moaned.  
  
"Yes you can." Trish said, sitting down on the opposite side to Bill and picking up her other hand. "Come on, let's see you bring this baby into this world."  
  
"I'm so tired." She moaned again. "I hate this."  
  
"Come on Lita, next one's going to be a big one." The doctor coached. "You're gonna push for me."  
  
"I can't do it, I just can't." The brunette whimpered just before the next contraction hit.  
  
"Good girl." Trish praised her. "Won't be long now. Remember to squeeze our hands."  
  
"OH MY GOD!" Lita screamed as she began to push. "THIS IS KILLING ME!"  
  
"That's it, great job Lita." The doctor called. "I can see the head, baby's head is crowning."  
  
"It's almost here now." Bill told her. "Not long now."  
  
"Just a few more big pushes." The doctor added.  
  
"You don't ask for much do you?" Lita said sarcastically.  
  
Not long after Lita threw herself back into the pile of pillows as she heard her baby cry for the first time.  
  
"He's a whopper." The doctor told them, handing the baby, wrapped in a blanket to her. "A beautiful, healthy boy."  
  
Lita's eyes lit up as the baby was laid in her arms. "He's perfect."  
  
"Good job." Bill told her, kissing her forehead. "Welcome to the world little guy." With a gentle hand he reached out to touch his son.  
  
"Trish, he's finally here." Lita told her friend, showing her the baby.  
  
"He's beautiful." Trish told them both, as the pair engrossed themselves in gazing at their new son.  
  
"If they ask, tell them I went to give them some space." Trish told the doctor before leaving the room.  
  
----------------  
  
"Trish!" Steve stood up as he saw her come through the door.  
  
"Is everything okay?" Shawn asked.  
  
"Yeah, they're all fine." Trish told them. "Next time Lita has a baby, remind me to tell her to cut her nails." She examined the crescent moon indentations on her hand and wrist.  
  
"So, did she have a boy or a girl?" Stacy asked, having woken up from her nap.  
  
"I can't tell you that." Trish answered. "But they have a very healthy baby, and Lita's going to be just fine as well."  
  
"Can we see them?" Steve asked.  
  
"I don't think so, not just yet. I snuck out to give them some time with their baby. I don't think they even realised I left."  
  
Trish and the others sat down again, resting against each other while they waited again, this time to see Lita, Bill and their new baby.  
  
----------------  
  
"Excuse me?" A nurse called into the waiting room. "Who is waiting to see Lita?"  
  
Steve Austin stood up. "All of us."  
  
"All of you?" The nurse asked. "Come on then. It's a good thing she's in a private room."  
  
Everyone got to their feet and followed the nurse.  
  
"Here we are." The nurse gestured to the door on her left. "Room 664."  
  
Trish knocked gently on the door, then walked in, the others following her.  
  
Across the room Lita sat up in bed, cradling a bundle of white blankets in her arms, Bill sitting beside the bed, one arm around her.  
  
"Hey." Trish said softly.  
  
"We were wondering where you'd gotten to." Lita smiled.  
  
"Thought I'd give you three some time." Trish answered.  
  
"Thank you." Lita told her. "For everything."  
  
"What are you all doing over there?" Bill called to the others. "This little guy doesn't have any teeth yet."  
  
"It's a boy?" Shawn asked.  
  
"Yeah, it's a boy." Bill told him proudly.  
  
"A very big boy." Lita told the bundle of blankets, before looking up at everyone. "His name is Max."  
  
"I like it." Steve told them. "Kid's not gonna get bullied at school."  
  
"Here," Lita passed baby Max over to Bill so that he could show everyone the baby.  
  
"He's a big boy." Shawn said, staring at the infant, dwarfed by his father's arms.  
  
"You don't have to tell me how big he is." Lita told him. "I remember just fine."  
  
"So this is little Max Goldberg." Stacy cooed to him. "Aren't you just gorgeous?"  
  
Without warning Max began to cry, with Bill returning him to Lita, where he became instantly placid again.  
  
"For the record, I don't know how she does it." Bill told everyone.  
  
Trish sat down on the bed with her friend. "Do you want to hold him?" Lita asked her.  
  
"Can I?" She asked.  
  
Lita smiled at her. "Of course you can." Carefully she transferred her infant son into Trish's waiting arms.  
  
"He's so little." Trish said, rocking him gently.  
  
"He's not believe me. But he's finally here." Lita told her. "As far as I'm concerned, that's all that matters."  
  
Bill walked over to her and kissed her forehead. "You did a good job getting him here."  
  
She smiled at him. "I'm sorry about your hand, if it helps." She gestured to a white bandage covering one of his hands.  
  
"What happened?" Scott asked.  
  
"Lita didn't cut her nails." Bill told him.  
  
"I split him wide open. It might be fun to do that to Gail Kim." Lita mused.  
  
"Okay, I'm gonna give him back now." Trish told Lita. "I don't want him to start crying on me."  
  
Taking Max from Trish, Lita leaned back into her pillows. "You are all so lucky you don't know how much it hurts."  
  
"Describe it to us." Rob suggested.  
  
"It's like being hit in the stomach and back with steel chairs at regular intervals, do you remember that ladders match you had with Christian, and how much pain you were in afterwards, think that for several hours, and nurses sitting there saying 'great job, you're doing well'. It bites the big one, biggest one ever."  
  
Everyone stared at Lita.  
  
"But then I look at Max, and I can sit here and say that he's worth every second of it." She ran her fingers through her hair, and looked up at everyone through half closed eyes.  
  
"We should go." Trish told her, leaning over to kiss Lita's forehead. "You did good today Li. Max is beautiful."  
  
"Have a good rest." Steve told her. "You too little guy. No keeping your mom up with wild parties in the nursery."  
  
Lita laughed. "I don't think he will."  
  
"Stay safe." Bill told her, kissing her gently on the mouth. "There's security guards stationed outside the door, at the elevators, and at the front entrance."  
  
She nodded. "Don't worry about me."  
  
"Kane attacked Shane McMahon in hospital." Shawn Michaels reminded her. "Just be alert."  
  
"Is that supposed to be before or after I lose consciousness?" Lita asked. 


	34. Baby

A/N: Updated again!  
  
Samantha.  
  
----------------  
  
Lita was awake early the next morning, just relaxing a pair of clean pajamas, watching Max as he lay in his hospital crib, kicking his legs and gurgling.  
  
She turned as someone knocked on the door, taking Max out of his crib, holding him protectively in her arms as the door opened.  
  
"Good morning." Bill said quietly as he walked in, several other people obviously waiting outside. "I wasn't sure if you'd be awake."  
  
She smiled, craning her head up to kiss him. "We're both up."  
  
Bill kissed her, then bent to kiss his son's tiny forehead. "I missed you both last night."  
  
"Mmm." She murmered.  
  
"There's some other people who wanted to see you." He told her.  
  
"I know." She answered. "They're waiting outside."  
  
"I'll just invite them in." Bill crossed the room and opened the door.  
  
"Hey, how was the night?" Steve asked, walking in, his signature hat on already, though it was only early.  
  
"Peaceful, mostly." She answered.  
  
"How are you feeling?" Linda McMahon asked her.  
  
"Pretty good." Lita told her. "You and Vince shouldn't have come all this way."  
  
"Of course we should have." Vince told her. "This little man is the future of World Wrestling Entertainment."  
  
Lita smiled, passing Max to Bill so that he could show the baby off.  
  
"I can't get over how much he looks like his father." Linda told her.  
  
"He does have his mother's big blue eyes though." Vince pointed out.  
  
"Where did you get Max from?" Linda asked. "It's lovely."  
  
"It was just a name we liked." Bill told her.  
  
"When I was pregnant we decided that we weren't going to name the baby after anyone we knew." Lita explained,  
"While it would have been nice to honor someone in that way, there's so many people we could have chosen, and to choose one over the others..."  
  
"Plus, we didn't want him to have to live in anyone's shadow." Bill added.  
  
"He's going to be a champion." Vince declared.  
  
"I think he has to learn to walk yet." Linda reminded her husband.  
  
"He was almost born to wrestle, Lita was in labor on RAW, he was almost born beside the ring." Vince argued.  
  
"Speaking of the ring, and all it's superstars, have you seen anyone else this morning Lita?" Steve asked.  
  
"No." She shook her head. "Why?"  
  
"You didn't see did you?" Steve asked.  
  
"See what?" Lita asked him.  
  
"At the match last night, when I called it off, Hunter almost slugged Bill with a sledge hammer. Before he could,  
Kane choke slammed him out of the ring."  
  
"How are we all this morning?" Eric Bishoff walked into the room, carrying a bunch of flowers and a teddy bear.  
  
Lita eyed him suspiciously, watching closely for any sign that he might have an ulterior motive for being there.  
The look was not lost on Linda McMahon, who said nothing.  
  
"How's the little guy this morning?" Bishoff cooed, sounding stupid as he tried to baby talk Max. Lita turned her head and looked up at Bill, reassuring him, making sure he didn't do anything stupid.  
  
"How was that match last night." Bishoff began, "Would've been great to see the end of it."  
  
"Yeah, a real shame it was cancelled." Stone Cold said, his tone laced with sarcasm Bishoff didn't seem to notice.  
  
"Can I hold him?" Eric asked Lita, holding his arms out.  
  
At once Lita's eyes smouldered. "No."  
  
"I'll be careful." He tried again.  
  
"You're not touching my son." Lita snapped at him. "The day you do will be over my dead body, and the bodies of all the other people you'd have to kill to get anywhere near him."  
  
"What makes you think I'm going to hurt him?" Eric asked her, a note of false sadness in his voice.  
  
"I don't trust you, at all." She told him, "Now get out."  
  
"Lita... can't we just mend all of our bridges?" He asked, trying for sympathy.  
  
"Get out, or I will call security." She told him again.  
  
"You can't do that."  
  
"Watch me." She raised her eyebrows at him, one finger poised above the button that would bring security guards running from all over the hospital.  
  
He stared at her for a moment, then spun on his heel and walked out of the room.  
  
---------------  
  
"What do you have against him?" Vince asked her.  
  
"I don't like him." Lita answered.  
  
"He can't be that bad." Vince tried again.  
  
"Eric Bishoff will never lay a hand on Max, not for any reason." She told him. "I will stake my life on it."  
  
"He can't be that bad."  
  
"I would rather sell my soul to the devil than have that man touch my son." Lita told him, her expression fixed, no compromises. 


	35. Don't mess with mom

A/N: I haven't updated this story in ages, I don't know why, it was always one of my favorites!!

Samantha

************

"It's nice to finally be back on the road." Lita sighed. "I loved being home with Max and Bill, but it just didn't feel right. This is where we're supposed to be."

"It must feel pretty awesome, being a mom, being back." Stacy agreed.

"Yeah, everything just feels so right. I'm healthy, I have a great guy, a wonderful baby." She smiled.

"He's so beautiful." Stacy cooed, tickling Max's cheek. "He's a little legend, just like his mommy and daddy."

Lita turned, sensing someone behind them.

"He's a legend?" Randy Orton asked. "I don't think I need to introduce myself. I'm the legend killer."

At once Lita pressed Max into Stacy's arms. "Get my son out of here."

"He wouldn't." Stacy said to her, wide eyed.

"He RKO'd an eighty year old woman." Lita reminded her, a sense of urgency in her voice. "Take Max somewhere safe."  
Without looking back at Stacy, Lita turned back to Randy, prepared for the kick she knew was coming. She ducked under it, and glared at him. "You'll never lay a hand on my son." Lita snapped before bringing her left foot up in a feint, before almost taking his head off with her right, making him stagger.

With all her strength she propelled the dazed 'legend killer' into a steel door, making him writhe in pain, and causing a series of loud, eerie noises that echoed down the hallway.

Desparate to ensure the safety of Stacy and her son, Lita twined her fingers in his hair and repeatedly smashed his face into her knee.

As she dropped him and turned to leave, to go and find Stacy, Randy grabbed her foot, pulling her to the ground, making her land heavily on her front, splitting her mouth open, and cutting her eye. Gasping for breath and half blind from the blood in her eyes, Lita rolled onto her back and introduced both of her feet to his midsection, then to his face, getting to her feet as he reeled, seeing stars.

Knocking him to his knees she punched him hard in the face with a closed fist. "Don't. Ever. Come. Near. My. Son. Ever. Again. Do. You. Understand?" She punctuated every word with another punch.

Once Lita had told her to take Max somewhere safe, Stacy ran, gasping for breath, holding the baby close to her chest, and glancing back to see if Orton was following her.

'The office.' She thought. 'I've got to get to the office. Steve will be there and Max will be safe.' As she turned to face the way she was running, Stacy stumbled, only to be caught, and lifted back onto her feet by Shawn Michaels and Kevin Nash.

"Take it easy." Kevin told her. "What's the hurry?"

"He's coming, he's coming, he's coming." She babbled, shrieking loudly, and holding Max tightly, as the group of men who had poured out of the office stared at her, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Goldberg among them.

"Stacy, calm down, and tell us what happened." Shawn asked her, holding her by the shoulders.

"I said Max was a little legend, and he came and said that he was the legend killer." Stacy told them in a rush.

"Randy Orton." Shawn spoke his name like the worst of curses.

"Lita told me to take Max somewhere safe." Stacy told Goldberg.

"Lita was with you?" Steve asked.

"Where is she?" Bill asked.

"The passage near the side exit, near the employee carpark." She answered.

"Go into my office." Steve told her. "Lock the door, and don't let anyone in until I come back for you, do you understand?"

Stacy nodded spraying tears everywhere as she carried Max into the office, closing the door behind her and turning over all the locks, before curling up in a corner of the room to wait, rocking Max gently as she swayed backwards and forwards.

As the group of men turned into the passage, they were presented with an image of Lita belting into Randy Orton, punctuating every word she spoke to him with a fist right to the face. "Don't. Ever. Come. Near. My. Son. Ever. Again. Do. You. Understand?" When she released her hold on his hair, Orton flopped down onto the floor, while she straightened, using the back on her hand to wipe some of the blood away from her eyes. Sensing their eyes on her, Lita turned to face the group of men. "A little bit late aren't you?" She asked.

"Are you okay?" Bill rushed over to hug her, while she winced slightly then hugged him back.

"Where's Max? Are they both safe? Lita asked, looking around as though the two would appear out of thin air.

"They're safe." Steve promised her. "Stacy's locked in my office. Max is still with her."

As he spoke Lita tired physically, almost falling to the floor, though Bill caught her before she landed.

Shawn moved over to look at Orton. "Damn girl, you beat the crap out of this son of a bitch."

"You would've too, if you'd had my motivation." She answered, resting her head against Bill's shoulder.

"Yeah, but this is..." Shawn shook his head, "What did you do to him?"

"Beat the living hell out of him." Lita told him. "He was going to try and hurt my son, and I'll be damned if I ever let that happen." When she spoke her voice was laced with pure, unbridled agression.

"Would two of you get the sorry son' bitch up." Steve said to the group, gesturing to Randy Orton.

With no protest Lita let Bill pick her up, and carry her down to the trainer's room.

He set her down gently on one of the chairs, and reached for a handful of tissues to try and stem the bleeding from the cut above her eye. She winced as he touched them to the cut, but relented, allowing him to clean some of the blood from her head.

"Where's Max?" Lita asked again, desparate to have her baby back in her arms.

"I'll go and get him, and Stacy too." Stone Cold promised her, leaving the room.

"Stacy?" He called, standing at the door. "Stacy, you can open the door, it's safe to come out now."

He heard shuffling inside the room, and then locks sliding over. The door opened to reveal Stacy, her cheeks streaked with drying tears, Max safe and sound still in her arms. "Come on Stacy." Steve told her gently. "Lita's safe now, and Randy Orton's not happy." She nodded, walking out of the room, sticking close to his side.

"Stacy!" Scott called down the hall. "I've been worried about you." He jogged down to meet them with Trish Stratus in tow.

"What's Max doing with you?" Trish asked, then noticed her friend's tears.

"She told me to keep him safe. I'm keeping him safe." Stacy told her.

"Where's Lita" Trish asked. "What's happened?"

"She's fine." Steve reassured the tenacious blonde. "We're going to check on her now, but she just wants to see Max. I'm sure everything will explained to you when we get there."

One of the trainers turned her to face them, cleaning both wounds with disinfectant, surprised when she didn't flinch as most other people did. As he began to press the skin together so that he could butterfly clip the cut over her eye, Steve and Stacy entered the room, with Scott Steiner and Trish in tow.

"Oh my god." Scott stared at Lita when he saw her. Lita however had her eyes fixed on Max. Bill moved from her side to take the infant from Stacy, who then dissolved in tears, holding onto Scott for dear life.

Lita ignored the trainer who was trying to clip the cut above her eye, holding her arms out to take her son, then sitting still so that he could finish, then move over to help the other trainer with Randy Orton.

"I'm so sorry." Stacy sobbed, reaching out to hold on to Lita.

"What are you sorry for?" Lita asked, hugging the woman with one arm.

"I left you. I left you and you got hurt." The blonde woman sobbed.

"You did everything I told you to." Lita soothed her. "You got Max somewhere safe, and you even got people to come and find me. I'm not mad at you Stac, I'm proud of you. Other people would have ignored me, they would have stayed, and put Max in danger. But you didn't, you kept him safe."

"I can't believe he actually hit you." Trish shook her head, running a hand through her friend's tangled hair.

"It's just a lot of blood. Don't worry, he never actually hit me." Lita shot her a half smile. "I think I got him pretty good though."

"If he didn't hit you, how did you get all cut up?" Kevin asked her.

"He pulled me to the ground and I landed kinda on my face. I hope I broke the bastard's ribs though." She looked over to where Randy lay moaning on the examination table.

"I wish I could have done more than that." Bill told her. "If I'd gotten there a few minutes earlier."

"It's okay." She reached up to stroke his cheek, as he bent down to kiss he. "Max is fine. That's all that matters."

As she finished speaking, Triple H and Ric Flair bolted into the room, ignoring everyone else as they moved to Randy's side.

"Randy? Speak to us, tell us what happened." Flair urged him.

Triple H however, rounded on Austin. "You'd better find out what the hell happened here, and quickly." He snapped.

"I already know what happened." Steve answered mildly.

"Then tell me who the hell did this, so I can go and beat the crap out of them." He bellowed.

"He got his ass handed to him by Lita." Steve told him. "Randy Orton may yet have forfeited his career. I suggest you sit down and shup up."

"That's a load of crap." Flair told him. "Someone else did this."

"I'm pretty sure I'll be able to find you the security tape of it happening." Steve answered him.

"If it was her she should get fired." Triple H told him. "You said that violent acts behind stage wouldn't be tolerated."

"In this case, I changed my mind. Why? Because your boy's a sick bastard and not just because Lita beat the living crap out of the little son of a bitch." Stone Cold told him.

"You can't just change your mind on that." Flair told him.

"WHAT?" Steve bellowed at him.

"I'll take this all the way to Vince McMahon." Triple H snarled.

"So will I." Lita told him, raising her voice. "I'm sure he'll love the fact that your little protege tried to hurt my son. The 'legend killer' out to kill another legend." She spat furiously standing up, Max still in her arms. "Do you think he can defend himself? You know about babies Ric, you have kids. My son isn't even a week old. If Randy ever comes near my son again, believe me I won't hesistate to cause him the most grievous bodily harm I can think of, and trust me, I can be very creative."

"What?" Flair asked, looking stunned.

"What she's saying, Nature Boy, is that Randy Orton wanted to hurt Max, baby Max." Shawn told him.

"That can't be right." Flair shook his head in disbelief.

"It is." Stacy told him, beginning to cry again. Scott tried to calm her, holding her close and stroking her hair.

"I want to see this tape you say you've got." Triple H told Austin.

"Can I go now?" Lita asked one of the trainers.

"Make sure you come back if you have any double vision, headaches, earaches." The man told her, "But yes, you're fine to go."

Lita didn't look back as she left, holding Max safely in her arms, though she knew that Ric Flair was watching her, or, more accurately, watching her son.

Later that night, as Lita, Bill and several of the others played a game of Monopoly, there was a knock the door.

Closest to the door, Lita moved to open it, pausing as she saw who it was.

"Hi." Flair said to her.

"Can I help you?" She asked politely.

"I saw the tape. He would have done it. Randy would have hurt your baby if he could have." Flair told her. "I just came to say I'm sorry. I didn't think anyone could be so callous as to even think about hurting a baby. I brought you these, I know they can't even begin to make up for what he did though." He said, offering her a bunch of tiger lillies, and a package wrapped in bright blue paper.

"Would you like to come in?" Lita asked him.

He nodded stepping in behind her.

"Don't mind everyone." She told him. "We're in the middle of Monopoly."

"Hi." He said to them, not really caring if he got a response.

"Thank you for your apology." Bill told him.

"I understand, how it feels when someone threatens your child." Flair told him.

"This is beautiful, thank you." Lita told him, holding up a pair of blue overalls, complete with a t-shirt and booties. "I think it will fit." Ric told her. "It's a 000."

"That's what he's in now." Lita told him. "You chose well."

"Sorry I missed the baby shower." The older man shrugged his shoulders.

"Would you like to see him?" Bill asked. "He's sleeping now, but, I'll take you in if you like."

"I'd like that." Flair told him.

"Put this away while you're in there?" Lita asked.

"Yes dear." Bill smiled at her, leading Ric through to the 'nursery' they'd created in their suite.

In the dimly lit nursery, Max slept peacefully, wrapped up in a soft, fluffy blanket.

When the two men entered, Bill moved over to the cradle, adjusting the blankets to keep him warm, the infant dwarfed by the size of his father's hands.

"You should be proud Bill." Ric told him. "You've got a beautiful son, and a beautiful woman. Hold tight to both of them."

"I always will." Goldberg told him. "I always will."

"Hello everyone, and welcome to Monday night RAW." JR called to the crowd.

"It's been kept pretty quiet in the wrestling world." King began, "And most people would remember last week's main event was cancelled, due to Bill Goldberg having to leave the arena to go with Lita to the hospital, where yes she did have her baby."

"And a beautiful baby he is." JR added. "So congratualations to Bill and Lita on the birth of their son, now if I'm not wrong, Lita should be..." As he was speaking her music began to play, and Lita walked out onto the causeway, moving over to them. Both men stood to kiss her on the cheek before making sure she was comfortable, and sitting down.

"And here he is, the littlest Goldberg himself." King announced. "Bring that camera over here, and get a picture of him." Lita smiled as Max's image filled the big screen.

"Is he going to give his first interview?" King asked.

Lita laughed. "Maybe when he can talk King." She answered.

"Now it's Max, isn't it?" JR asked. "He seems to be a pretty happy baby."

"He is very laid back." Lita told them. "Although I don't think he got that from me."

Both men laughed. "Now, you've had a pretty big week haven't you?" King asked.

"The biggest." She agreed.

"Yeah, you gave birth to Max, and sat through the baby shower everyone in the WWE threw for you and Bill, and you also got into a fight, is that right?" JR said to her.

"That's right." Lita told them.

"What are you doing getting into fights? You just had a baby."

"Aparrently Max has become something of a legend in the past week. Most people I know are picking him to be either a wrestler, or a football player. Anyway, we had a visit from the 'legend killer.' Randy Orton decided he was going to hurt my son, and I decided that it wasn't going to happen. I hurt him instead."

"Looks like you took a bit of damage yourself." King told her, gesturing to the butterfly stitches over her eye.

"It's nothing." She shrugged it off. "Stone Cold should be out in a moment, he's got something he wants to say to everyone."

At once the sound of glass shattering filled the air, followed immediately by Steve's music, and the 'Texas Rattlesnake' appearing at the top of the ramp, making his way to the ring.

The three announcers watched as he picked up the microphone and began to speak. "Stone Cold Steve Austin's here, in this very ring for a reason. You wanna know what that reason is?" He asked the crowd.

"WHAT!" They screamed in response.

"There was an 'incident' this week." Austin told them. "One that I believe, as do Vince and Linda McMahon deserves our full attention."

"WHAT!" The crowd cheered.

"Do you want to see that incident?" Steve asked them. "If you wanna see it give me a hell yeah."

"HELL YEAH!" The crowd roared.

"Roll the damn tape." Austin called, pointing to the big screen, which filled with an image of Stacy, Lita, and baby Max.

"He's so beautiful. He's a little legend, just like his mommy and daddy." Stacy said.

"A legend? Allow me to introduce myself. I'm the legend killer." A voice said from off screen, though everyone in the audience knew who was speaking.

Everyone watched as Lita passed her son to Stacy. "Get my son out of here."

"He RKO'd an eighty year old woman." Lita reminded her, a sense of urgency in her voice. "Take Max somewhere safe."

The crowd was eerily silent as they watched Stacy rush off holding the baby in her arms, while Lita turned to face Randy Orton, alone.

The sound of cheers filled the arena as Lita beat down on Orton, and even laughter could be heard as she looked up to see the other men standing at the end of the passage, and Lita said to them, "A little bit late aren't you?"

"That's what I'm here to talk about." Stone Cold announced, his microphone coming to life again. "I can tell you, that obviously, Lita is fine, and baby Max is fine. Randy Orton however, is not so fine. He recieved two cracked ribs, and a decent concussion." At that point Steve was interrupted by the crowd cheering again, screaming at the tops of their lungs 'Lita, Lita, Lita, Lita!'

"I'm sure she appreciates your support." Steve called out. "And I know that you'll be even happier to note that Randy Orton has been suspended from wrestling, and from touring with the WWE for a minimum of three weeks, though Vince McMahon, and the board of directors are still considering his final punishment."

Again he was met with cheers, and chanting, this time, 'Orton's out, Orton's out, Orton's out!"

"Lita, Bill, you're both wanted in the ring." One of the techs told them as they walked down one of the halls with baby Max. "Apparently it's important."

Both superstars nodded their heads and walked up and out onto the ramp, Bill's music playing through the speakers as together, they walked down to the ring, which was dark.

"Be careful." He whispered to her. "Any sign of trouble, you take Max and get the hell out of here, out of the building even."

She nodded. "If anything happens, I'll meet you where we said we'd meet."

Together they walked up the steps, and Bill used his leg to open the middle ropes so that Lita could slide in easily, hugging Max to her chest. As Bill moved into the ring, standing beside her, all of the lights went on, revealing a host of people in the ring, from RAW superstars like Trish, Shawn, Kevin, RVD and the Dudleyz, to SMACKDOWN! superstars like Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy, Edge, Rey Mysterio and Torrie Wilson, as well as the Rock, Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Vince and Linda McMahon, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and Shane and Stephanie McMahon.

"Now," Vince began. "We knew that you wouldn't really want a big party, and most of us here missed the baby shower, so we thought we'd get you all out here, and give you another present, or more accurately, give baby Max a present, though I do have one for both of you."

"But most of us, the ones who missed out on stuff like baby showers, and being here when Max was born, want to tell you something." Kurt Angle added, "And for me, it's congratulations, and welcome to the world Max."

"Si mi angelita. We welcome your son to the world, and the WWE." Rey moved over to kiss her on both cheeks.

"Thank you." Lita told him.

Hulk Hogan smiled at Max, kissed Lita's cheek, and clapped Bill on the back. "Good job, all of you."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" The Rock began, "The Rock, the jibroni beatin'..."

"If you say what I know you're going to say next," Lita began, "I will kick your behind, Max is too young to even hear about things like that."

"The Rock hears you Lita , and he's sorry. Welcome to the world Max." He reached down to tickle the baby's cheek. "Ha, ha, you see that, the Rock made him laugh. Damn he's cute. Must take after his mother, right Bill?"

"He looks like Bill." Lita told him, watching as he blushed, and smiled.

"Don't worry." Goldberg told the Rock. "We forgive you."

"I know I've already said my congratulations." Jeff began, "But you both know I love you, and Max." He reached out to hug Bill first, then Lita, who allowed him to give Max a hug too.

After everyone else had had their say Steve took up the microphone. "Now in the last week, I've seen you a fair bit, hung out. Bill and I went out, drank some beer, wet the baby's head. But I never said welcome to the world Max, and congratulations to you both."

"Thank you." Lita told him, kissing his cheek.

"Didn't expect that." Steve admitted to the audience.

"See that camera there." Lita said to Steve, pointing to it. "Look up, and smile." He gave he a strange look, then appeared surprised as she placed Max in his arms. The crowd went wild as images of Stone Cold Steve Austin appeared on the big screen, cradling Max in one arm, and waving, as Lita had told him to, with the other.

"Now that's a picture I want for Max's room." She told everyone, laughing.

"Thank you for trusting me with Max." Steve told them both as he passed the baby back into his father's waiting arms.

"Trust isn't an issue." Bill told him. "As far as Lita and I are concerned, you're family."

"That's one of the nicest things anyone's ever said to me." Austin answered.

"And you're one of the best things to happen to us." Lita told him, giving him a hug.

"Congratulations, both of you. Now Bill, we're all expecting you to make an honest woman out of her." Steve told Goldberg.

Lita held up her left hand, with one finger pointing up, and for a second Austin thought he was getting the bird. "You know while you were all planning baby showers and keeping me off my feet, telling what I wasn't allowed to do, Bill put a ring on my finger, and we started making our wedding plans."

Everyone in the ring did a double take.  
"No one told us!" Shawn called out.

"Yeah!" Jeff agreed.

"We're telling you now." Bill told them, "And everyone out there too." He gestured to the audience. "With luck, we'll be married soon."

"Congratulations." Vince told them both. "When can we expect our invitations?"

"Shortly." Lita told him. "We're waiting to get the back from the printers."

"And on that note," Vince began, "We took the initiative, and got Max a present. We missed the baby shower, because we needed to know whether or not he was a boy or girl, so..." Steve handed Vince a minature belt, which Vince moved to strap around Max's waist. "There you go Max, World Heavyweight Champion." Vince told the baby.

Lita and Bill both laughed as Max was shown on the big screen again, his World Heavyweight Championship belt around his little waist.


End file.
